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
Most rays "weren't that bothered" by the cameras Pelletier says, but three individuals breached—jumping clear of the water—potentially an attempt to dislodge the device, like an irritating remora.
From National Geographic ● Oct. 23, 2023
Longtime Beltway attention-economy remora Dick Morris, meanwhile, has just weighed in with this marvel:
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2021
Alongside him — remora to his Great White — was the chiseled actor John Kortajarena, guiltlessly popping sweets.
From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2017
Of the old soldier; of haddocks, cods, and dog fish; of the remora; of crabs, herrings, and salmon.
From Zoonomia, Vol. I Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Erasmus Darwin
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
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
As Megaupload grew, an ecosystem of illegal services began to form around it like remoras around a whale.
From Forbes ● Apr. 17, 2013
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.
