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sea anemone
noun
: any of numerous usually solitary anthozoan polyps (order Actiniaria) whose form, bright and varied colors, and cluster of tentacles superficially resemble a flower
Examples of sea anemone in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Many of these quirky-looking animals have an equally unusual diet—sea anemones.
—Brian Handwerk, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 June 2024
Down the hall from Carter, Adam Reitzel has about 100,000 sea anemones.
—Rebecca Noel, Charlotte Observer, 8 May 2024
When moving through a crowd of darting and preening Italians, her presence is anomalous — a sea anemone amid parrotfish.
—Molly Young, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2024
Clownfish living in sea anemones aren’t as amicable as Pixar’s Finding Nemo might suggest.
—Christian Thorsberg, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Feb. 2024
The purple tentacles of a sea anemone blossomed like petals of a dahlia, and a sluglike nudibranch with electric orange spots clung to a ribbon of kelp.
—Jen Murphy, Travel + Leisure, 19 Jan. 2024
The reef includes plush fish, barnacles, starfish, sea anemone and a removable octopus rattle kids can pull off and shake.
—Taryn Mohrman, wsj.com, 8 Dec. 2023
But starfish—as well as sand dollars and sea anemones—have radial symmetry, with identical segments of their body radiating out from a central point.
—Lori Youmshajekian, Scientific American, 3 Nov. 2023
In 2021 Cheng published a review of learning in Cnidaria—a group that includes jellyfish, corals, sea anemones, and more—and found only a handful of studies that tested for associative learning, all of which were on sea anemones.
—Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 22 Sep. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sea anemone.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1742, in the meaning defined above
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Cite this Entry
“Sea anemone.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sea%20anemone. Accessed 16 Jun. 2024.
Kids Definition
sea anemone
noun
: any of several invertebrate sea animals that are coelenterates, look like flowers, and have clusters of brightly colored tentacles around the mouth
More from Merriam-Webster on sea anemone
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about sea anemone
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