plural lampreys
: any of a family (Petromyzontidae) of eel-shaped freshwater or anadromous jawless fishes that include those cyclostomes having well-developed eyes and a large disk-shaped suctorial mouth armed with horny teeth
called also lamprey eel
Examples of lamprey in a Sentence
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According to Johnson, that can help buy time before these tactics lose their efficacy and lampreys start to find ways to avoid them.
—
Andrew Montequin, jsonline.com, 8 Aug. 2025
Native to Connecticut, lampreys often get a bad reputation for their sinister looking mouthparts that some believe could latch onto a human, but that couldn’t be further from the truth, according to Matthew Goclowski with DEEP’s fisheries division.
—Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 5 Aug. 2025
The ancestor of living vertebrates could likely detect red, purple, blue and green — an ability that was maintained in lizards, birds, lampreys and lungfish, among other vertebrate groups, Wiens said.
—Molly Herring, Quanta Magazine, 27 June 2025
The agencies have explained it as a way of expanding spawning habitat for salmon, steelhead, lamprey and sturgeon.
—Jake Goodrick, Sacbee.com, 28 Apr. 2025
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Andrew Montequin, jsonline.com, 8 Aug. 2025
Native to Connecticut, lampreys often get a bad reputation for their sinister looking mouthparts that some believe could latch onto a human, but that couldn’t be further from the truth, according to Matthew Goclowski with DEEP’s fisheries division.
—Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 5 Aug. 2025
The ancestor of living vertebrates could likely detect red, purple, blue and green — an ability that was maintained in lizards, birds, lampreys and lungfish, among other vertebrate groups, Wiens said.
—Molly Herring, Quanta Magazine, 27 June 2025
The agencies have explained it as a way of expanding spawning habitat for salmon, steelhead, lamprey and sturgeon.
—Jake Goodrick, Sacbee.com, 28 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lamprey
Cite this Entry
“Lamprey.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lamprey. Accessed 30 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
lamprey
noun
lam·prey
ˈlam-prē 
-ˌprā
plural lampreys
: any of a family of jawless fishes that resemble eels and have a large sucking mouth with horny teeth
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