goby
Americannoun
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goby,
plural
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gobies
plural
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any small marine or freshwater fish of the family Gobiidae, often having the pelvic fins united to form a suctorial disk.
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any fish of the closely related family Eleotridae, having the pelvic fins separate.
noun
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any small spiny-finned fish of the family Gobiidae, of coastal or brackish waters, having a large head, an elongated tapering body, and the ventral fins modified as a sucker
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any other gobioid fish
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of goby
1760–70; < Latin gōbius gudgeon (spelling variant of gōbiō or cōbius ) < Greek kōbiós
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:
The other factor in the region’s monster-sized smallmouth population is environmental: The arrival and prevalence of goby fish, an invasive species which arrived in the 1990s and became a smallmouth-fattening buffet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
They have seen spider crabs taking a stroll, starfish, king scallops and goby fish.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Topanga Creek is home to another endangered fish, the small but hardy northern tidewater goby, often described as cute.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
On Friday afternoon, after the successful goby rescue, she wrote in an email that she had just found out she would be going home the following day.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2025
Ripple was a type of fish called a goby.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
Brenton Spies, a lecturer at Cal State University Channel Islands with goby expertise, said gobies play a critical role in the food chain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2025
In a large, white Igloo cooler, the gobies teemed in one corner, blending into rocks and sand that lined the bottom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2025
The Topanga gobies comprise the biggest, most stable population in the Santa Monica Bay area, according to Dagit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2025
Another endangered fish, northern tidewater gobies, were rescued from the same watershed shortly before the steelhead were liberated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2025
“I was born a female, and then I changed to a male. We gobies do that from time to time.”
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
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.
