- any of various usually ferocious selachian fishes, typically marine with a long body, two dorsal fins, rows of sharp teeth, and between five and seven gill slits on each side of the head
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
shark1 /ʃɑrk/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
shark2 /ʃɑrk/USA pronunciation n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Fisha fish that has a scaleless skin, a wide mouth on the underside of the head, and five to seven gill slits on each side.
shark2 /ʃɑrk/USA pronunciation n. [countable]
- one who is skilled at obtaining money from others in a dishonest way.
- Informal Termsa person who has very good ability in a particular field:a card shark.
shark1
(shärk),USA pronunciation n.
shark′like′, adj.
shark2 (shärk),USA pronunciation n.
v.t.
v.i.
- Fishany of a group of elongate elasmobranch, mostly marine fishes, certain species of which are large, voracious, and sometimes dangerous to humans.
- origin, originally uncertain 1560–70
shark2 (shärk),USA pronunciation n.
- a person who preys greedily on others, as by cheating or usury.
- Informal Termsa person who has unusual ability in a particular field.
v.t.
- [Archaic.]to obtain by trickery or fraud;
steal.
v.i.
- [Archaic.]to live by shifts and stratagems.
- German dialect, dialectal Schork, variant of Schurke rascal
- 1590–1600
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
shark /ʃɑːk/ n
shark /ʃɑːk/ n
- a person who preys on or victimizes others, esp by swindling or extortion
'shark' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
angelfish
- angel shark
- basking shark
- blue pointer
- bronze whaler
- grey nurse shark
- gummy
- hammerhead
- killer
- loan shark
- mackerel shark
- mako
- monkfish
- nurse shark
- porbeagle
- porcupine provisions
- requiem shark
- sailfish
- school shark
- selachian
- shark repellents
- shark watcher
- shirk
- shovelhead
- squalene
- thresher
- tiger shark
- tope
- whaler
- whaler shark
- whale shark
- wobbegong
- blacktip shark
- blue shark
- bonnethead
- bonnet shark
- booger
- bull shark
- card shark
- carpet shark
- cow shark
- cub
- cub shark
- dusky shark
- gata
- gray nurse shark
- great blue shark
- great white shark
- ground shark
- juice man