Gorgonian
noun
any of numerous alcyonarian corals of the order Gorgonacea, having a usually branching, horny or calcareous skeleton.
Gorgonian
American
[gawr-goh-nee-uhn]
/ gɔrˈgoʊ ni ən /
noun
adjective
gorgonian
1
British
/ ɡɔːˈɡəʊnɪən /
noun
adjective
Gorgonian
2
British
/ ɡɔːˈɡəʊnɪən /
adjective
Etymology
Origin of Gorgonian
1825–35; < New Latin Gorgoni ( a ) genus name ( see Gorgon, -ia) + -an
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:
He grounds this opinion on what is said by Statius and Sebosus, that certain islands called Hesperides lay forty days sail west from the Gorgonian islands on the coast of Africa.
It was indeed Lady Gorgon in her Gorgonian chariot.
From The Bedford-Row Conspiracy by William Makepeace Thackeray
Thereon was Strife, thereon Fortitude, and thereon was chilling Pursuit; 228 on it was the Gorgonian head of the dreadful monster, dire, horrible, a portent of ægis-bearing Jove.
From The Iliad of Homer (1873) by Theodore Alois Buckley
Tritonian Pallas is planted in glittering halo and Gorgonian terror.
From The Aeneid of Virgil by Virgil
Far off from these a flow and silent Stream Lethe the River of Oblivion rolls; Which Medusa with Gorgonian Terror guards.
From An Essay on Criticism by John Oldmixon
The team filmed fish darting between gorgonian whip coral, and jelly-like orange sea sponges near black coral.
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2026
To examine the molecular makeup of the mucus, the researchers collected small samples of gorgonian coral, leather coral and Ircinia sponges from two reefs that serve as dolphin hubs.
From Scientific American ● May 19, 2022
In the twilight, the hard corals gave way to soft gorgonian corals in myriad shapes and sizes, including sea fans, sea feathers, and whips in bushy clusters.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 2, 2017
Some gorgonian fan corals grew larger than a linebacker.
From New York Times ● Feb. 18, 2016
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.
