sea urchin

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noun

any echinoderm of the class Echinoidea, having a somewhat globular or discoid form, and a shell composed of many calcareous plates covered with projecting spines.

a tall evergreen shrub or small tree, Hakea laurina, of Australia, having narrow leaves and dense, globe-shaped clusters of crimson flowers with long yellow stamens.

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Origin of sea urchin

First recorded in 1585–95

Words nearby sea urchin

sea trials, sea trout, Seattle, sea turtle, seatwork, sea urchin, sea vegetable, Seaver, sea wall, sea walnut, seawan

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use sea urchin in a sentence

About the only things left in these empty zones are sea urchins.
Urchin takeover underlies California’s vanishing kelp forests|Anushree Dave|May 7, 2021|Science News For Students
Most significantly, the demise of important predators such as otters and sea stars has led to an explosion in the population of sea urchins, which eat kelp.
Humanity’s greatest ally against climate change is the Earth itself|Sarah Kaplan|April 22, 2021|Washington Post
Our thinking has been shaped by a few well-studied organisms and genes, like worms, flies and sea urchins.
Cells Form Into ‘Xenobots’ on Their Own|Philip Ball|March 31, 2021|Quanta Magazine
As its growth slowed in the warmer water, less kelp drifted into the crevices of the reefs where sea urchins typically lurk.
How kelp forests off California are responding to an urchin takeover|Anushree Dave|March 29, 2021|Science News

Like the barrens farther south, the remaining forests are now covered by purple sea urchins.
How kelp forests off California are responding to an urchin takeover|Anushree Dave|March 29, 2021|Science News
My dad was a sailor, and all through my childhood he was away half of the time at sea, and to an extent I have a similar job.
Belle & Sebastian Aren’t So Shy Anymore|James Joiner|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It is the only tourist center Ukraine has left on the Black Sea, since Russia annexed Crimea last spring.
Is Putin Turning to Terrorism in Ukraine?|Anna Nemtsova|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The wreckage lies no more than around 100 feet down in the Java Sea.
Flight 8501 Poses Question: Are Modern Jets Too Automated to Fly?|Clive Irving|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
And for those on the Palestinian right who still dream of driving the Jews into the sea, they too can forget it.
In the Middle East, the Two-State Solution Is Dead|Dean Obeidallah|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Search teams find dozens of people and jet debris floating in the Java Sea, as the airline confirms the wreckage is from QZ8501.
Wreckage, Bodies of AirAsia Crash Found|Lennox Samuels|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Edna did not reveal so much as all this to Madame Ratignolle that summer day when they sat with faces turned to the sea.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
Edna Pontellier, casting her eyes about, had finally kept them at rest upon the sea.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
The countries about the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea and its adjoining waters.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
All things that are of the earth, shall return to the earth again, and all waters shall return to the sea.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various
Worst danger zone, the open sea, now traversed, but on land not yet out of the wood.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton

British Dictionary definitions for sea urchin

sea urchin

noun

any echinoderm of the class Echinoidea, such as Echinus esculentus (edible sea urchin), typically having a globular body enclosed in a rigid spiny test and occurring in shallow marine waters

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012