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🐟 A small lake fish 🌊 A huge sea fish 🍽️ Fish as food
sunfish

sunfish

1 5.9
A very large ocean fish with a round flat body and tall fins that lives in warm seas
  • noun
  • /ˈsʌnˌfɪʃ/
translation icon : mola
  • It seems vast in the water, a long nylon pall with its diagonal seams, its stitched numbers, and sunfish silhouette.
  • ocean sunfish
  • sunfish family

Examples

  • And the hollow, mute hull of the Sunfish hulking beside him.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The Sunfish bobs in the breaking waves of shallow water, and Judy pulls up the centerboard and jumps off into water up to her shiny hips and pulls the boat like a barge through the last yards before the bow scrapes sand.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Judy and I will rent a Sunfish.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • And when we went out in the Sunfish and the mast cracked, we had to haul it back...

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The counselors said that as part of the award, Olivia could take one of her cabinmates out in a Sunfish.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The Sunfish had a yellow and orange sail, diagonally striped.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • During our trip, we spotted a huge sunfish swimming gracefully near the surface of the ocean.

  • The marine biologist pointed out that the sunfish has an unusual shape that helps it thrive in warm waters.

  • While snorkeling, we were thrilled to see a sunfish gliding by, showcasing its distinctive rounded body.

Synonyms

mola
vssunfish
1 9.9

A very large flat ocean fish with tall fins often seen near the surface

is the common descriptive definition rather than a name
ocean sunfish
vssunfish
7.0

A very large round flat sea fish with tall fins and a short tail that lives in warm oceans

is the detailed biological description rather than the name
headfish
vssunfish
9.8

A very large sea fish with a flat round body that rests near the surface

is the species description rather than an alternative label

Compounds

ocean sunfish
7.0

A very large round flat sea fish with tall fins and a short tail that lives in warm oceans

rock sunfish
  • US
6.7

A freshwater fish in North America with a flat round body often found near rocks

spotted sunfish
  • US
8.0

A small freshwater fish with dark spots that people catch for food or fun

How Big

sunfish
1 5.9
tuna
213 1.0
salmon
76 1.0
perch
8 4.2
minnow
15 4.2

Surface Forms

sunfish singular
sunfishes plural

Morphology

sunfish = sun + fish (semi-transparent) = sun + fish

Formed by the clear compound 'sun' + 'fish' so learners will recognise it as a kind of fish, but the specific unusual characteristics (e.g., extremely large oceanic Mola) are not predictable from the parts.

Etymology

Sunfish is made of the parts sun and fish because the giant ocean sunfish often lies at the water surface and looks like a round 'sun' from above. So the name helps you remember this very large sea fish with a flat, sun-like body.