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

Based on Peter Benchley's 1974 novel of the same name, follows a small beach town terrorized by a massive great white shark, leading local Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) a marine biologist, and a grizzled shark hunter Quint (Craig Kingsbury) to team up and track it down. —Hannah Parry, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Sep. 2025

Its tale of how a great white shark terrorized a beach community led box offices for weeks in the summer of 1975. —Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today, 31 Aug. 2025

Meanwhile, marine life spans from the ocean sunfish to the dusky dolphin—but thankfully, South Africa’s iconic great white sharks are nowhere to be found. —Jared Ranahan, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2025

About 93 great white sharks have been detected in Maine since late August 2020, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. —Ashley J. Dimella, FOXNews.com, 28 Aug. 2025

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