remora
Americannoun
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remoras
plural
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any of several fishes of the family Echeneididae, having on the top of the head a sucking disk by which they can attach themselves to sharks, turtles, ships, and other moving objects.
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Archaic. an obstacle, hindrance, or obstruction.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of remora
1560–70; < Latin: literally, delay, hindrance, derivative of remorārī to linger, delay, equivalent to re- re- + morārī to delay
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:
Like a very profitable remora attached to a very large shark.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 9, 2025
Longtime Beltway attention-economy remora Dick Morris, meanwhile, has just weighed in with this marvel:
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2021
One or two remora would be unlikely to slow down a 40-foot whale shark, says Meekan, but when you start adding more and more remoras, those costs can add up.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 13, 2018
Alongside him — remora to his Great White — was the chiseled actor John Kortajarena, guiltlessly popping sweets.
From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2017
A remora was caught by the crew of a small vessel on board of which I was passenger.
From Antigua and the Antiguans, Volume II (of 2) A full account of the colony and its inhabitants from the time of the Caribs to the present day by Anonymous
That starkness gives the movie the in-the-moment immediacy of a nature doc about a shark and a swarm of remoras.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2025
Sometimes, you can see as many as a hundred or more remoras plastered to the side of one shark.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 13, 2018
I imagine it feels similar for the entourage of tuna, remoras and other hangers-on that seem to admire its underbelly and innocently chase a free ride from its slipstream.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 30, 2017
In the bright midmorning light you could see the little yellow-blue pilot fish swimming in front of the sharks’ pointed snouts, remoras clinging to their sides and copepod parasites in their eyes and gills.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 2, 2015
The other kids are bouncing around me like remoras swimming under a great white.
From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya
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.
