plural piranhas or piranha
: any of various usually small South American characin fishes (genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus) that have very sharp teeth, often appear in schools, and include some that may attack and inflict dangerous wounds upon humans and large animals
called also caribe
Examples of piranha in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Game Watch out, Mario and Luigi, the piranha plant is out to get you!
—
Maya Polton, Parents, 24 Mar. 2024
The meandering rivers have strong currents and teem with predators, including piranhas and anacondas.
—Longreads, 1 Feb. 2024
Touching one of these seeds can lead to anything from an impromptu musical performance by singing-and-dancing piranha plants to a ride on a herd of stampeding beasts to a short pop quiz about your gameplay stats, and practically everything in between.
—Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 27 Dec. 2023
Other available badges let Mario jump higher, grab distant walls with a piranha plant grappling hook, or climb up walls with a useful vertical jump.
—Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 18 Oct. 2023
The fish, which closely resembles a piranha and is native to South America, has teeth that look like those of a human.
—Brenton Blanchet, Peoplemag, 31 Aug. 2023
This monstrous fish is a tambaqui, a close relative of the piranha.
—Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 22 Mar. 2011
Based on the children’s book series by Aaron Blabey about a group of animals — a wolf, a snake, a shark, a tarantula and a piranha — that are always portrayed as criminal types but are trying hard to reform here, Desmarchelier says the script didn’t define where the action would be taking place.
—Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 22 Apr. 2022
The latest version can now give responses up to 25,000 words, up from about 4,000 previously, and can provide detailed instructions for even the most unique scenarios, ranging from how to clean a piranha’s fish tank to extracting the DNA of a strawberry.
—Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN, 16 Mar. 2023
Maya Polton, Parents, 24 Mar. 2024
The meandering rivers have strong currents and teem with predators, including piranhas and anacondas.
—Longreads, 1 Feb. 2024
Touching one of these seeds can lead to anything from an impromptu musical performance by singing-and-dancing piranha plants to a ride on a herd of stampeding beasts to a short pop quiz about your gameplay stats, and practically everything in between.
—Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 27 Dec. 2023
Other available badges let Mario jump higher, grab distant walls with a piranha plant grappling hook, or climb up walls with a useful vertical jump.
—Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 18 Oct. 2023
The fish, which closely resembles a piranha and is native to South America, has teeth that look like those of a human.
—Brenton Blanchet, Peoplemag, 31 Aug. 2023
This monstrous fish is a tambaqui, a close relative of the piranha.
—Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 22 Mar. 2011
Based on the children’s book series by Aaron Blabey about a group of animals — a wolf, a snake, a shark, a tarantula and a piranha — that are always portrayed as criminal types but are trying hard to reform here, Desmarchelier says the script didn’t define where the action would be taking place.
—Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 22 Apr. 2022
The latest version can now give responses up to 25,000 words, up from about 4,000 previously, and can provide detailed instructions for even the most unique scenarios, ranging from how to clean a piranha’s fish tank to extracting the DNA of a strawberry.
—Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN, 16 Mar. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'piranha.' 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 piranha
Cite this Entry
“Piranha.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/piranha. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
piranha
noun
pi·ra·nha
pə-ˈran-yə 
-ˈrän-(y)ə
-ˈrän-(y)ə
: any of various usually small flesh-eating South American freshwater fishes that have very sharp teeth, often occur in groups, and include some that may attack human beings and animals in the water
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