: the typically free-swimming, bell-shaped, usually sexually-reproducing solitary or colonial form of a cnidarian in which the whorls of tentacles lined with nematocysts arise and hang down from the margin of the nearly transparent, gelatinous bell : medusa
especially: a large medusa characteristic of the siphonophores and scyphozoans (such as the sea nettle or box jellyfish)
a jellyfish who was afraid to tell her boss that her latest brainstorm was just plain bad
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The production was plagued by hurricanes, tsunami warnings, stinging jellyfish and several injuries — including Costner, who almost died while riding out a storm stranded atop a mast after his safety line had snapped.—Peter Kiefer, HollywoodReporter, 8 Oct. 2025 These pretty pink jellyfish are carnivorous and have stinging tentacles that can reach up to 70 feet long.—Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 25 Sep. 2025 As with the jellyfish and ctenophores, many of these lose their transparency at depth, becoming red over at least part of their bodies.—Literary Hub, 25 Sep. 2025 The Gulf is currently experiencing a bloom of moon jellyfish, which are the pink meanie’s favorite food.—Khloe Quill, FOXNews.com, 25 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for jellyfish
: any of numerous free-swimming coelenterate animals that reproduce sexually and have a jellylike, saucer-shaped, and usually nearly transparent body and tentacles with stinging cells
2
: any of various sea animals that resemble a jellyfish
: a free-swimming marine coelenterate that is the sexually reproducing form of a hydrozoan or scyphozoan and has a nearly transparent saucer-shaped body and extensible marginal tentacles studded with stinging cells
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