hellbender
Americannoun
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a large salamander, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis, of rivers and streams in eastern North America, having a flat, stout body and broad head.
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Informal. a reckless or headstrong person.
noun
Etymology
Origin of hellbender
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.
A world without elephants, hellbender salamanders and the million other species at risk of extinction in the coming decades would be deeply impoverished.
From Scientific American ● May 4, 2023
Biologists who study hellbender behavior had previously noted this form of infanticide on occasion.
From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2023
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources confirmed 3,500 dead fish in waterways as well as deceased hellbender salamanders, an endangered species in the state.
From Salon ● Feb. 18, 2023
For his hellbender eDNA surveys, Spear used the two3 — a smartphone-based portable qPCR machine from Biomeme in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
From Nature ● Jun. 24, 2019
Most salamanders are tiny, only an inch or two long, but the rare and startlingly ugly hellbender salamander can attain lengths of over two feet.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
