fin whale
3
4.0
- noun
- /fɪn weɪl/
- Conservationists are working hard to protect the endangered fin whale and its habitat.
- blue and fin whales
- fin whales and minke
- fin whales and humpbacks
Examples
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Looking at these dolphins, it is easy to imaginehow big this fin whale is.
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Blue whales, fin whales, and sei whales were gradually pushed toward extinction, and the whaling industry collapsed under the weight of its own foolishness.
Academic text (1990) -
And finally, here comes the giant fin whale,taking its turn.
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The fin whale is one of the largest creatureson Earth.
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Are these spotted dolphinshunting with the fin whale?
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Although supposedly protected,the fin whale is still hunted today and is extremely vulnerable.
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In addition to modern commercial whalingand collisions with ships, the fin whale is now alsobeing impacted by climate change.
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The water will be filtered outthrough the baleen plates, and the entire school of fish, trapped inside, will become this fin whale's dinner.
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But his farewell was speeded up when, on Jan. 20, a 70-foot-long female fin whale became trapped in a cove on the outskirts of Burgeo.
Fiction book (2002) -
The fin whale is the second largest animal on Earth, often found swimming in the deep ocean.
Synonyms
1
8.9
A very large whale with a flat head and deep grooves along its throat
1
6.3
A large whale with baleen plates, a flat head, and throat ridges that lives in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
A large whale that has a flat head and deep lines on its throat, often called the fin whale
A very large whale with a flat head and deep lines on its throat found in many oceans
How Big
31
1.4
3
4.0
7
2.7
- Specialized
1
6.2
12
4.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'fin whale' is a straightforward noun-noun composition: a whale characterized by (or named after) its fins, so the overall meaning as a type/kind of whale is directly derivable from 'fin' + 'whale'. This kind of descriptive compounding is a common, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily understand it refers to a particular species of whale.
Etymology
Fin whale gets its name from the long, thin fin on the whale's back, a clear, visible part people used to name the animal. So fin whale means the large kind of whale named for that fin.