sea turtle

American  

noun

• sea turtles
  plural

1. any of several large turtles of the families Cheloniidae and Dermochelyidae, widely distributed in tropical and subtropical seas, having the limbs modified into paddlelike flippers: all sea turtles are either threatened or endangered through most of their range because of ocean pollution.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sea turtles
  plural

Etymology

Origin of sea turtle

First recorded in 1670–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sea turtle

Rhossi the Kemp's ridley sea turtle was found close to death in December 2023, and has been nursed back to health by staff at the Anglesey Sea Zoo.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

Pancake, the super-rare sea turtle, returns to the NYC waters.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026

The film cuts to a hummingbird sipping nectar from a flower on a cactus, a sea turtle floating over a coral reef, pink flamingos on a green lake, a snowflake, a butterfly.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026

Meatloaf now swims in the aquarium’s sea turtle rehabilitation area, which opened in January.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026

It was a giant sea turtle with a broad shell that rose a thousand feet out of the water, its enormous flippers churning the waves in great up-down motions like slow wing beats.

From "The Reader" by Traci Chee