sperm whale

American

noun

a large, square-snouted whale, Physeter catodon, valued for its oil and spermaceti: now reduced in number and rare in some areas.

sperm whale British

noun

Also called: cachalot. a large toothed whale, Physeter catodon, having a square-shaped head and hunted for sperm oil, spermaceti, and ambergris: family Physeteridae

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

sperm whales

plural

Etymology

Origin of sperm whale

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

sperm whale

Its shape closely resembles a sperm whale, the famous marine animal from Herman Melville's novel, which inspired its name.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 1, 2026

One of the most famous incidents involved the whaleship Essex, a 27m sailing vessel that was reportedly sunk by two direct strikes from a large bull sperm whale near the Galapagos in 1820.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 23, 2026

Kent frames his illustration of Daggoo, the African crewman, darting a sperm whale from directly behind the harpooner, depicting him in muscular silhouette.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

And they also showed that sperm whale codas are indeed combinatorial, similar to the compositionally shown by bonobos and chimps.

From Salon ● May 29, 2025

When the robot looked back, she saw that the clickety clickety creature was a sperm whale.

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023