anaconda
noun
a South American boa, Eunectes murinus, that often grows to a length of more than 25 feet (7.6 meters).
anaconda
1 American
[an-uh-kon-duh]
/ ˌæn əˈkɒn də /
noun
-
anacondas
plural
-
a South American boa, Eunectes murinus, that often grows to a length of more than 25 feet (7.6 meters).
-
any large boa.
-
Cards. a variety of poker in which each player is dealt seven cards, discards two, and turns up one of the remaining five before each betting round.
Anaconda
2
American
[an-uh-kon-duh]
/ ˌæn əˈkɒn də /
noun
anaconda
British
/ ˌænəˈkɒndə /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of anaconda
1760–70; misapplication of a name originally used for a snake of Sri Lanka; earlier anacandaia < Sinhalese henakandayā kind of snake
Explanation
An anaconda is an enormous South American boa snake that's a great swimmer. Adult anacondas are large enough to prey on deer, capybaras, and even young jaguars. Anacondas spend most of their time in swamps and rivers. They are non-venomous, constrictor snakes that suffocate their prey and eat it whole. The green anaconda is the largest snake in the world by weight, with females growing up to 500 pounds and about 17 feet long. It is one of very few snakes that is theoretically big enough to eat a human — but that has never happened. Etymologists have various theories about the origin of the word anaconda, including the Tamil anaikkonda, "having killed an elephant."
Vocabulary lists containing anaconda
South America - Middle School
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South America - Introductory
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South America - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
They also saw an anaconda in the water, he said.
From BBC ● May 3, 2025
Professor Fry said the northern green anaconda species diverged from the southern green anaconda almost 10 million years ago, and they differ genetically by 5.5 per cent.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 20, 2024
Böhme remains unconvinced and thinks the move to combine yellow anaconda species is “premature”.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 16, 2024
In 2021, researchers discovered two female California Condors were able to reproduce without males while two years earlier, a female anaconda got pregnant by herself in a Boston aquarium.
From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2023
“Your mom would do that too, with one pinky, while fighting off that anaconda with her other hand. To protect you, she’d do just about anything.”
From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers
Anaconda offers funds — not open to U.S. investors — aimed at that transition, through electrification, metals and mining and oil and gas.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 29, 2026
"Anaconda," the new meta comedy action flick starring Paul Rudd and Jack Black as friends trying to reboot the original 1997 horror film, finished in fifth place with $10 million.
From Barron's ● Jan. 4, 2026
For Anaconda and neighboring towns, the ripple effects of this violence are deeply personal.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2025
The sheriff's office added that the gunman's home in Anaconda had been searched, and "cleared by SWAT" teams.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2025
That was a husky chap of about thirty, who said he had been admitted to the park once for retrieving a home-run I had swatted over the fence in a game against Anaconda.
From Down the Yellowstone by Lewis R. (Lewis Ransome) Freeman
There, they don’t have to worry about their natural predators, like jaguars and anacondas.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
On a swamp called the Floating Forest, deep in the Amazon, Paul Rosolie is looking for anacondas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
Modern anacondas are among the heaviest and longest snakes in existence.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2025
Khinjaria acuta is a member of a family of giant marine lizards known as mosasaurs, distant relatives of today's Komodo dragons and anacondas.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2024
Sleepiness and slothfulness keep it out of harm’s way, away from the notice of jaguars, ocelots, harpy eagles and anacondas.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
