velella
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
- velellidous adjective
Etymology
Origin of velella
1825–35; < New Latin, equivalent to Latin vēl ( um ) sail + -ella -ella
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.
We were just specks in the ocean, as tiny as a velella or an anchovy, part of a big, watery world.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 7, 2025
Springtime velella sightings documented on community science platforms like iNaturalist spiked both this year and last, though scientists say it’s too early to know if this indicates a rise in the animal’s actual numbers.
From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2024
What looks like an individual Velella velella is actually a colony of teeny multicellular animals, or zooids, each with their own function, that come together to make a single organism.
From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2024
It relies on local residents visiting their neighborhood beaches on a regular basis, and although the project focuses on seabirds, enough participants reported velella washups to facilitate the analysis.
From Scientific American • May 3, 2023
As the barnacles grew larger, the remains of the velella changed into large excrescences, half the size of a walnut.
From Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2 by Grey, 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.
