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View synonyms for

narwhal

[ nahr-wuhl ]

noun

  1. a small Arctic whale, Monodon monoceros, the male of which has a long, spirally twisted tusk extending forward from the upper jaw.


narwhal

/ ˈnɑːˌweɪl; ˈnɑːwəl /

noun

  1. an arctic toothed whale, Monodon monoceros, having a black-spotted whitish skin and, in the male, a long spiral tusk: family Monodontidae
“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
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Other Word Forms

  • Բ·ɳ󲹱·· [nahr-, hwey, -lee-, uh, n, -, wey, -, -, wol, -ee-], adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of narwhal1

First recorded in 1650–60; from Scandinavian; compare Norwegian, Swedish, Danish nar(h)val, reshaped from Old Norse 󱹲, equivalent to “corpse” + hvalr whale 1; allegedly so called because its skin resembles that of a human corpse
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Word History and Origins

Origin of narwhal1

C17: of Scandinavian origin; compare Danish, Norwegian narhval, from Old Norse 󱹲, from corpse + hvalr whale, from its white colour, supposed to resemble a human corpse
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

There’s the narwhal, which mates “in a kind of ballet; a pair will swim alongside each other for hours, skins touching.”

From

In seven years on The Times’s National Desk, I wrote about everything from natural disasters to narwhals.

From

Menopause is known to exist in five species of toothed whale: short-finned pilot whales, false killer whales, killer whales, narwhals and beluga whales.

From

They found females of five "menopausal" species - narwhals and beluga, short-finned pilot, false killer and killer whales - lived about four decades longer than other toothed whales.

From

Five whale species — killer whales, false killer whales, beluga whales, short-finned pilot whales and narwhals — don’t fit that pattern.

From

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