MEANING
1. A soft, jellylike aquatic animal, typically with a bell-shaped body and trailing tentacles.
2. A person who lacks firmness, courage, or the willingness to stand by a decision.
Use it for
describing translucent animals drifting through water; identifying bell-shaped sea creatures; portraying trailing tentacles in an underwater sceneSeparates gelatinous marine animals from the insulting figurative description of a person without resolve. Writing functions: Gelatinous sea life / Lack of resolve.
Words that belong together
- a jellyfish bloom
- jellyfish tentacles
- a jellyfish sting
On the page
The jellyfish pulsed beneath the boat like a dim blue lantern.
Dozens of jellyfish drifted beyond the swimming area.
His opponent dismissed him as a jellyfish for abandoning the proposal.
She refused to be the office jellyfish who accepted every unreasonable demand.
Word forms
- Base
- jellyfish
Usage notes
Countable noun: jellyfish; plural usually jellyfish, also jellyfishes for individuals or kinds. Figurative person sense is informal and critical. Register: neutral. Commonness: common (dictionary-informed qualitative editorial estimate; not a measured frequency).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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