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

Endangered right whales spotted in shipping lanes south of Massachusetts Chisholm every spring receives many shark reports that turned out to be basking sharks, instead of great white sharks. —Rick Sobey, Hartford Courant, 11 May 2025

In a Tuesday, March 18 Facebook post, Beard shared a snap of his thigh covered in a bright red rash, attributing it to the great white shark. —Sam Gillette, People.com, 20 Mar. 2025

What would happen if great white sharks disappear from Cape Cod? —Rick Sobey, Boston Herald, 27 Apr. 2025

Megalodon’s teeth resemble those of a modern great white shark, so some scientists previously concluded that the two sharks had a similar stout body shape. —Kate Golembiewski, CNN, 11 Mar. 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