radula
Americannoun
plural
radulaenoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of radula
1745–55; < New Latin rādula, Latin: scraper, equivalent to rād ( ere ) to scrape, rub + -ula -ule
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.
The scans uncovered a radula, a ribbon-like feeding organ lined with rows of tiny teeth that is found in molluscs.
From Science Daily • Apr. 7, 2026
These gelatinous slugs swim through the water column and stick their radula through a trunklike proboscis to snag prey, a hunting style similar to what the new study proposes for Typhloesus.
From New York Times • Sep. 20, 2022
A complex radula is used by the digestive system and aids in the ingestion of food.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015
The morphology of the jaws and radula suggests that ammonites fed on small marine invertebrates—indeed, tiny crustaceans and snail-like gastropods were found among the jaws of one specimen.
From Science Magazine • Jan. 6, 2011
It knows too much to risk having its radula, or tongue, nipped off by putting it between the partly-open valves of the dying cockle.
From Beautiful Shells of New Zealand An Illustrated Work for Amateur Collectors of New Zealand Marine Shells, with Directions for Collecting and Cleaning them by Moss, E. G. B.
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.
