sea star
2
3.4
- noun
- /siː stɑr/
:
estrella de mar
- A slow-moving sea star glides gracefully over the rocks to the bottom of the pool.
- crabs and sea stars
Examples
-
Shake the crab harder, and you may dislodge tiny sea stars feeding on oysters and mussels, or sea urchins scavenging for seaweed and sedentary invertebrates.
Academic text (2002) -
The waters are resplendent with hundreds of tropical fish, colorful sea stars, spiny lobsters, and massive coral formations.
Academic text (2006) -
Inside, the altar was decorated with coral, sea stars, and mother of pearl.
Fiction book (1998) -
That sweet little sponge rescued this miserable little sea star.
-
King let the curious touch sea urchins, sea stars, and a moon snail.
Blog text (1) -
Each dive produces a different surprise: squids, crabs, fields of sea stars, and corals; those of us who didn't dive watch the videos, transfixed.
Academic text (2002) -
Sensing a kill, the sea star lurches forward to get its mouth positioned over the slug so that it can evert its stomach, digest the sea slug, and suck in its snack.
Academic text (2009) -
The scientific justification for the trip was to sample crabs, urchins, sea stars, and other creatures in the same places the Western Flyer's crew had visited in 1940, to begin to evaluate the ways in which the intertidal ecology had altered.
Academic text (2007) -
A giant sea star slowly moves across the seafloor under the ice in Antarctica.
-
Amid picture-book beaches and high-sloping capes, tide pools brim with sea stars and colorful anemones.
Synonyms
20
2.1
A sea animal with a star-shaped body and five arms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly built from 'sea' (marine) + 'star' (star-shaped), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer a star-shaped creature living in the sea. This compounding pattern is common and comparable to forms like 'seahorse'/'sea lion', making the sense immediately predictable.
Etymology
Sea star comes from the animal's look: its five arms spread from a central body like a star in the sea. So the name helps you picture this star-shaped sea creature.