velella
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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.
These sea snails are also voracious predators themselves and feast upon free-floating hydrozoan such as Velella velella and Portuguese man o’ war.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 23, 2025
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
Given that sea surface temperatures have been consistently above the historical average every day since March 2023, the current velella bloom is consistent with those findings.
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.
