anaconda

¹ American  

[an-uh-kon-duh] / ˌæn əˈkɒn də /

noun

1. a South American boa, Eunectes murinus, that often grows to a length of more than 25 feet (7.6 meters).

2. any large boa.

3. 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.

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Anaconda ² American  

[an-uh-kon-duh] / ˌæn əˈkɒn də /

noun

1. a city in SW Montana.

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anaconda British  

/ ˌænəˈkɒndə /

noun

1. a very large nonvenomous arboreal and semiaquatic snake, Eunectes murinus, of tropical South America, which kills its prey by constriction: family Boidae (boas)

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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

Example Sentences

Indigenous groups displayed signs reading "the answer is us" as an inflatable elephant and anaconda weaved through the crowd under the hot sun.

From BBC • Nov. 15, 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

“It’s important, because the newly described northern green anaconda has a much smaller range than the southern, and so that means it’s much more vulnerable,” says Fry.

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

“I think if a snake came along, even an anaconda, and you were in harm’s way, that snake wouldn’t stand a chance.”

From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers