pelagic
adjective
Did you know?
Pelagic comes to us from Greek, via Latin. The Greek word pelagikos became pelagicus in Latin and then pelagic in English. (Pelagikos is derived from pelagos, the Greek word for the sea—it is also a source of archipelago—plus the adjectival suffix -ikos.) Pelagic first showed up in dictionaries in 1656; a definition from that time says that Pelagick (as it was then spelled) meant "of the Sea, or that liveth in the Sea." Centuries later, writers are still using pelagic with the same meaning, albeit less frequently than its more familiar synonym oceanic.
Examples of pelagic in a Sentence
Ernie Cowan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Mar. 2024
For years, scientists have observed stomach eversion in elasmobranchs and pelagic fishes, especially when they are captured in hook and line fisheries.
—Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2024
Each day, there will be opportunities to attend talks on a wide range of topics, including shorebirds, common pelagic birds and birding, bird migration, beginning birding, bird art basics, backyard bird feeding and virtual tours of Costa Rica, the Galapagos Islands and Panama.
—Caron Golden, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Feb. 2024
Sharks accumulate toxins at different rates, with pelagic species expected to have elevated levels of mercury.
—Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2024
To illustrate, the researchers found large amounts of microplastics in pelagic red crabs and giant larvaceans, two filter-feeding species that reside in the midwater and are fundamental to food webs at both the ocean’s surface and floor.
—Lydia Rivers, Discover Magazine, 15 June 2021
In tracking the biomass of pelagic fish on the West Coast from British Columbia to Baja California, Demer of NOAA has observed some behavior that explains why populations in decline often stay in decline.
—Layla Schlack, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 Mar. 2021
The free-floating creatures eat pelagic gastropods, notably snails.
—Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Apr. 2023
His collection includes chocolate porcelain crabs, pelagic red crabs, scarlet sea cucumbers and sea butterflies — all species once rare but now common to the Sonoma coast.
—Nick Rahaim, SFChronicle.com, 16 Oct. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pelagic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near pelagic
Cite this Entry
“Pelagic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pelagic. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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pelagic
adjective
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