sea serpent

noun

: a large marine animal resembling a serpent often reported to have been seen but never proved to exist

Examples of sea serpent in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Descriptions include 150-foot-long monsters that caused shipwrecks by wrapping their tentacles around ships, plenty of sea serpents with giant heads and long tails, and one story from 1903 of a group of men who saw a creature with a series of wings, a head like an elephant and horns. —Amy Schwabe, Journal Sentinel, 24 June 2024

While in times past their size and often stupendous length likely gave rise to many a sailor’s tales of sea serpents, the innocent oarfish is hardly a diabolical or supernatural creature. —Stephen C. George, Discover Magazine, 18 June 2024

In one scene, Godzilla heads to the Arctic Ocean and threatens a sea serpent with bioluminescent fins that emit a neon-pink glow (hell yeah!). —Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 29 Mar. 2024

This kid gorilla leads Kong to a tribe of scraggly hostile apes who are living in a slave society presided over by the Skar King, an evil ape with blotchy red hair who’s as tall as Kong and wields a skeletal bone whip that looks like it was fashioned out of the spine of a sea serpent. —Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 28 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1774, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

sea serpent

noun

: a large marine animal resembling a snake often reported to have been seen but never proved to be real