Illustration of shark
- 1 mako
- 2 tiger
- 3 thresher
- 4 hammerhead
- 5 great white
: any of numerous mostly marine cartilaginous fishes of medium to large size that have a fusiform body, lateral branchial clefts, and a tough usually dull gray skin roughened by minute tubercles and are typically active predators sometimes dangerous to humans
1
: a rapacious crafty person who takes advantage of others often through usury, extortion, or devious means
loan sharks
2
: one who excels greatly especially in a particular field
sharked; sharking; sharks
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Where did jump the shark come from?
When something jumps the shark it undergoes a significant change for the worse and is on a new trajectory of unrecoverable decline. The happy days of its golden age are over.
The origin of the phrase jump the shark is tucked neatly in that previous sentence: it comes from a 1977 episode of the American TV series “Happy Days” (1974–1984) in which the program's most popular character, Fonzie, jumps over a shark while waterskiing in his trademark leather jacket. Some years later that episode came to be widely identified as marking the beginning of the iconic show's decline, and its plot device became a metaphor for similar transformations:
Nearly all TV shows ever produced have jumped the shark eventually. Such is the nature of television's creative conundrum.
— Monica Collins, Boston Herald, 9 Jan. 2000Most TV series take three seasons to jump the shark, but in the theater it can happen in 20 minutes …
— Bob Verini, Daily Variety, 18 Sept. 2009But in its headlong embrace of capitalism and corporate tie-ins, “Sex and the City” may have finally jumped the shark.
— Laura Compton, San Francisco Chronicle, 30 May 2010
The phrase is no longer limited to contexts involving entertainment; anything that undergoes a significant change for the worse that marks the start of a period of decline can be said to have "jumped the shark":
Not everyone agrees when Picasso's art jumped the shark.
— Jeffry Cudlin, Washington Post, 27 Feb. 2011Silicon Valley has “jumped the shark” and lacks innovation, venture capitalist Peter Thiel says.
— Mike Murphy, MarketWatch, 1 Nov. 2018
Examples of shark in a Sentence
Noun (2)
a card shark
a shark at calculus
being a new arrival in Hollywood, she was easy prey for the sharks in the movie business
Recent Examples on the Web
Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic, 26 June 2025
Methylmercury accumulates up the food chain, so apex predators such as sharks, tuna and swordfish have the highest concentrations.
—Tara Haelle, Scientific American, 25 June 2025
Melvin Backman, Quartz, 19 Sep. 2024
But these numbers aren’t the definitive rate of how often sharks successfully attack and eat dolphins.
—Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 17 Apr. 2024
See All Example Sentences for shark
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Noun
Working-class residents battle with an upper-class outsider regarding the best way to kill the shark.
—Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic, 26 June 2025
Methylmercury accumulates up the food chain, so apex predators such as sharks, tuna and swordfish have the highest concentrations.
—Tara Haelle, Scientific American, 25 June 2025
Verb
The latest Shark Tank shark speaks about entrepreneurship and sharking
💼 Amazon and 5 other major companies that have ditched remote work
SURPRISING DISCOVERIES
Taylor Swift fans are rowdier than Real Madrid’s.
—Melvin Backman, Quartz, 19 Sep. 2024
But these numbers aren’t the definitive rate of how often sharks successfully attack and eat dolphins.
—Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 17 Apr. 2024
See All Example Sentences for shark
Cite this Entry
“Shark.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shark. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
shark
1 of 2 noun
: any of numerous marine fishes that have rough grayish skin and a skeleton made of cartilage, that usually prey on other animals and are sometimes dangerous to people, and that include some caught for the oil in their livers or for their hide from which a leather is made
shark
2 of 2 noun1
: a sly greedy person who takes advantage of others
a loan shark
2
: a person who outdoes others especially in a certain area
a shark at arithmetic
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