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Examples of puff adder in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The one in particular that gave them trouble was the puff adder, which—like southern Pacific rattlesnakes—is an ambush predator.
—Christie Wilcox, Discover Magazine, 30 Apr. 2018
An ambushing puff adder is both camouflaged and unsmellable to predators.
—Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 7 Feb. 2017
An ambusher's arsenal: chemical crypsis in the puff adder (Bitis arietans).
—Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 21 Dec. 2015
This kind of behavioral segmentation had never been observed before, which the researchers say is odd given how common the puff adder is throughout Africa and is frequently kept in captivity.
—Troy Farah, Discover Magazine, 17 Apr. 2019
But only one snake uses both its tail and its tongue to lure prey: the African puff adder.
—Troy Farah, Discover Magazine, 17 Apr. 2019
The 22-year-old, who owned a venomous puff adder, was treated with anti-venom in Connolly Hospital, the Irish Post reported last month.
—Fox News, 7 Mar. 2020
This was apparently the case with the man who was bitten in late February by a puff adder, a venomous snake native to semiarid regions (i.e., not Ireland).
—Gillian Brockell, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Mar. 2020
The researchers captured puff adder shy sharks in a harbor in Cape Town, South Africa, and transported them to a government research aquarium, where the fish acclimated for four months.
—Rachel Nuwer, Scientific American, 19 Dec. 2019
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'puff adder.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1789, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Dictionary Entries Near puff adder
Cite this Entry
“Puff adder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puff%20adder. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.
Kids Definition
puff adder
nounMedical Definition
puff adder
noun
: a large thick-bodied exceedingly venomous widely distributed African viper (Bitis arietans) that inflates its body and hisses loudly when disturbed
also
: a similar smaller snake (B. inornata) of southern Africa
More from Merriam-Webster on puff adder
Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for puff adder
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about puff adder
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