pelagic
adjective
pe·lag·ic
| \ pə-ˈla-jik
\
\
Definition of pelagic
: of, relating to, or living or occurring in the open sea : oceanic
pelagic sediment pelagic birds
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Examples of pelagic in a Sentence
among pelagic animals the undisputed king is the blue whale, the largest creature currently roaming the face of the earth
at one time pelagic whaling was the cornerstone of the island's economy
Recent Examples on the Web
Recent bird sightings as reported to the Massachusetts Audubon Society: â–º The number of shorebirds seen at coastal sites seem somewhat reduced in recent days, but things are really heating up for pelagic bird activity offshore. — BostonGlobe.com, "Bird sightings across the region," 26 Aug. 2019 She's dabbled in everything from research on pelagic invertebrates to animations about beer to podcasts about fake tumbleweed farms. — Rose Eveleth, Scientific American, "Your Employer May Be Spying on You—and Wasting Its Time," 16 Aug. 2019 Bricks walls bear chipped, pelagic-blue paint and a list European city names: Budapest, Krakow, Lviv, Bucharest, Odessa. — Travis Deshong, Washington Post, "America fell in love with ‘Jeopardy!’ again this year. In Washington, the romance never faded.," 8 July 2019 Now, new research off the California coast suggests an even larger plastics reservoir: deep offshore pelagic waters, the largest habitat on Earth. — National Geographic, "Tiny plastic pieces are spread throughout the deep sea," 6 June 2019 His collection includes chocolate porcelain crabs, pelagic red crabs, scarlet sea cucumbers and sea butterflies — all species once rare but now common to the Sonoma coast. — Nick Rahaim, SFChronicle.com, "How is climate change is effecting oceans? Check the tide pools," 21 June 2019 Called pelagic red crabs, the animals look like small lobsters or crawfish and measure one to three inches long. — Elaina Zachos, National Geographic, "Thousands of Tiny Red Crustaceans Strand on California Beach," 12 June 2018 But by far the most climate-friendly seafood is small pelagic fish, such as sardines, herrings, and anchovies. — Erik Stokstad, Science | AAAS, "Our growing taste for shrimp is bad news for climate change," 2 Apr. 2018 But when the eggs of pelagic-spawning fish hatch, the babies are helpless—no mouth, eyes, gastrointestinal tract, or nervous system. — National Geographic, "Breeding Aquarium Fish Can Help Save Reefs," 3 May 2016These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pelagic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for pelagic
pelagic
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of pelagic
technical
: relating to or living in the sea far from the shore
See the full definition for pelagic in the English Language Learners Dictionary