sunfish
Americannoun
plural
sunfish,plural
sunfishes-
the ocean sunfish, Mola mola.
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any of various other fishes of the family Molidae.
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any of several small, brightly colored, spiny-rayed freshwater fishes of the genus Lepomis, of North America, having a deep, compressed body.
noun
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any large plectognath fish of the family Molidae, of temperate and tropical seas, esp Mola mola, which has a large rounded compressed body, long pointed dorsal and anal fins, and a fringelike tail fin
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any of various small predatory North American freshwater percoid fishes of the family Centrarchidae, typically having a compressed brightly coloured body
Etymology
Origin of sunfish
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.
After the aquarium shut for renovation in December, the sunfish stopped eating jellyfish and started rubbing its body against the tank, the Mainichi Shimbun reported on Monday.
From BBC • Jan. 20, 2025
Ocean sunfish sightings tend to rise when velella observations do, Jaros said.
From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2024
But someone since then dumped in a bucket of wide-mouth bass, which eat native sunfish eggs, Lucero said.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 14, 2023
Despite the fish’s death, it is heartening to see that sunfish can currently survive to reach such a massive size in the wild, Thys says.
From Scientific American • Oct. 20, 2022
I catch three pumpkinseed sunfish and a catfish while Bando gathers tender dandelion leaves, chicory greens, and wild carrots for salad.
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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.
