angler

American  

[ang-gler] / ˈæŋ glər /

noun

• anglers
  plural

1. a person who fishes with a hook and line.

2. a person who gets or tries to get something through scheming.

3. Also called allmouth, anglerfish, goosefish, lotte, monkfish.  any large pediculate fish of the family Lophiidae, especially Lophius americanus, found along the Atlantic coast of America, having an immense mouth and a large, depressed head to which is attached a wormlike filament for luring prey.

4. Also called anglerfish.  any of various related fishes of the order Lophiiformes.

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angler British  

/ ˈæŋɡlə /

noun

1. a person who fishes with a rod and line

2. informal a person who schemes or uses devious methods to secure an advantage

3. Also called: angler fish.  any spiny-finned fish of the order Pediculati (or Lophiiformes ). They live at the bottom of the sea and typically have a long spiny movable dorsal fin with which they lure their prey

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• anglers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of angler

First recorded in 1545–55; angle ² + -er ¹

Explanation

If you go fishing with a rod and a fishing line with a hook at the end of it, you're an angler. An angler might fish off the end of a dock, or from a rowboat in the middle of a lake. Anglers are distinguished by the fact that they fish with metal hooks, and they often release the fish they catch. You can also call one type of fish an angler, short for anglerfish, a big-headed, relatively small-bodied fish. Angler was originally a last name, and came to mean "fisherman" by about 1500, from the verb angle, "fish with a hook," from the Old English angel, which means "angle," but also "fishhook."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

angler anglers

Not long ago, I watched a video of an angler tossing an urchin into the Atlantic surf and coming up with a nice-sized fluke.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Fuentes, a construction worker, is a dedicated angler who often spends his days off reeling in fish from the lake and then turning over his catch to his wife for cleaning and preparing for dinner.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026

When Weinberg talks about fly fishing, he speaks of it less as a single hobby than a constellation of interests, where each angler finds their own corner to obsess over.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026

"Being an angler for such a long time I knew a bit about the invertebrates, but this training has taken my knowledge to a new level."

From BBC ● May 26, 2026

“I’m in pain! So much pain!” the angler fish said, gasping loudly.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young

While many anglers will gently hover and twitch the urchin as a finesse-style bait, the young bass phenom and former Journal subject Dylan Quilatan has been fishing the urchin with a more aggressive approach.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Yoshida, the Coike’s creator, writes in an email that he designed the spiky lure two decades ago to resemble a “cluster of small fish,” or what anglers call a “bait ball.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

On Sunday, Javier Fuentes woke up at 4:30 a.m. to prep for an all-day fishing excursion at Hesperia Lake Park, which opens to anglers at 6 a.m.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026

The team will also work with anglers in hubs including Looe, Falmouth and Brightlingsea, to look at catch records to help build up "the most complete picture yet" of shark distribution.

From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026

Included among these fish were sunfish and bass, which of course are favorites of anglers and commonly find their way to the dinner table.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson