great white shark

noun

: a large mackerel shark (Carcharodon carcharias) of warm seas that is bluish when young but becomes whitish with age and has been known to attack humans

called also white shark

see shark illustration

Examples of great white shark in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Warmer waters may shift great white sharks What does El Niño have to do with great white sharks? — Kristin Scharkey, USA Today, 1 July 2026

Director Steven Spielberg and author Peter Benchley both expressed regret over how the film contributed to the demonization of great white sharks. — Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 20 June 2026

Analysis of zinc isotopes preserved in fossilized shark teeth, published in Nature Communications in 2022, found that when great white sharks and megalodon coexisted during the Pliocene, their diets overlapped significantly, both feeding high up the same food chain on marine mammals. — Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 20 June 2026

The special uses groundbreaking science to study how adaptive and intelligent alpha great white sharks are during their hunts. — Kelli Bender, PEOPLE, 18 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1774, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for great white shark

• arc
• ark
• bark
• barque
• dark
• hark
• lark
• marc
• mark
• marque
• narc
• quark

Kids Definition

great white shark

noun

: a large and dangerous shark of warm seas that is quick to attack human beings and is bluish when young but becomes whitish with age

Medical Definition

great white shark

noun

: a large shark (Carcharodon carcharias of the family Lamnidae) that is bluish when young but becomes whitish with age and has been known to attack humans

called also white shark