feather star
- noun
- Specialized
:
estrella plumosa
- Scientists discovered a new species of feather star in the deep sea.
Examples
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At the aquarium, we watched a feather star cling to a rock with its feathery appendages.
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I spotted a feather star while diving in the Caribbean.
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The feather star gracefully moved its arms as it drifted along the ocean floor.
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The feather star gracefully swayed in the ocean current.
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The diver spotted a feather star nestled among the coral on the sea floor.
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During our snorkeling trip, we admired a beautiful feather star waving gently in the current.
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While exploring the muddy bottom, we found several feather stars clinging to the rocks.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A sea animal with a central body and feathery arms used to catch food
A sea animal with ten feathery arms that swims without a stalk
A sea animal with a cup-shaped body and feathery arms like a flower
A sea animal with many feathery arms that looks like a star
A sea animal with many feathery arms that looks like a star
A group of sea animals called feather stars that swim freely in the ocean
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a descriptive noun–noun compound whose meaning — a star‑shaped thing with feather‑like parts (i.e., a star that has feathered arms) — is directly inferable from 'feather' + 'star'. It follows a normal English compounding pattern and contains no idiomatic or metaphorical shift, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would grasp the basic sense even without knowing the technical term 'crinoid'.
Etymology
The noun feather star gets its name from its look: it has many long, soft arms that look like feathers and spread out from the middle like a star. So, the name simply refers to a 'sea animal' with feathery arms.