mollusk
Americannoun
-
mollusks
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mollusk
1775–85; < French mollusque < New Latin Mollusca; see Mollusca
Explanation
Your pet snail, Sammy, is one example of a mollusk, or a soft, spineless animal. In Sammy's case, he has a shell, though some mollusks don't. It's a bit ironic that this term for a large phylum of invertebrates comes from a Latin word that means "soft," mollis, since many mollusks (or molluscs in Britspeak) have hard shells. The epithet comes from the nature of the creatures' bodies, whether in shell (like a snail) or without (like a slug).
Vocabulary lists containing mollusk
"Joyas Voladoras" by Brian Doyle
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Animals (Zoology) - Introductory
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Animals (Zoology) - Middle School
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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:
To avoid being eaten, the mollusk hides with its transparent body and makes a quick escape by quickly closing its oral hood, similar to the movements of a jellyfish.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2024
Porosity is known to affect the structural integrity of mollusk shells, making shells weaker and potentially more susceptible to damage.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 17, 2024
The boy’s family in rural Edmond, Oklahoma, humored him with toy versions of an eight-legged mollusk, but as Cal got older it became clear that only the real thing would do.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 15, 2024
Herman is confident that his father would be happy with his adoration for the mollusk, now chronicled in this beautiful cookbook.
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2024
She showed Will and Lyra how to gather a particular kind of mollusk by finding their breathing tubes just above the sand.
From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
Trilobites scurried across the seafloor among dense clusters of shelled mollusks.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 11, 2026
A radioactive wasp’s nest was found at a decommissioned nuclear worksite in South Carolina, and a thriving community of tube worms and mollusks was located at the bottom of deep-sea trenches in the Pacific.
From Slate ● Aug. 1, 2025
Speaking of what makes up this most delicious and fragrant stew and despite the name, go on and include shellfish: crustaceans, mollusks or bivalves, anything you like.
From Salon ● Mar. 14, 2025
The mollusks are efficient filter feeders and can increase the clarity of water by consuming large quantities of plankton, which native fish and other creatures depend on.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2024
Abalones are mollusks that cling tenaciously to rocks, and one has to pry them loose.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
