porpoise
part of speech
noun (a porpoise, porpoises)
meaning for a pupil
A porpoise is a sea mammal like a small dolphin, with a short, round snout, a rounded head, a small triangular back fin and flat, spade-shaped teeth. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons, porpoises are cetaceans, like whales and dolphins: they breathe air through a blowhole, are warm-blooded and feed their babies milk. The harbour porpoise lives around the coasts of Britain, Ireland and North America and is shy. The vaquita, a tiny porpoise in Mexico, is the most endangered sea mammal in the world, often caught in fishing nets. Phrases: «harbour porpoise», «a pod of porpoises».
examples
- We saw a porpoise from the ferry. tree →
- Porpoises are smaller than most dolphins. tree →
- A porpoise breathes through a blowhole on top of its head. tree →
- Harbour porpoises live in the cold seas around Britain. tree →
- The vaquita is a porpoise that is nearly extinct. tree →
- Porpoises hunt fish using echoes. tree →
- One would have thought that Pinocchio had turned into a porpoise playing in the sun. tree →
note
Plural «porpoises». Spelling: por-poise; say POR-pus. Trap: «purpose» (a reason or aim) sounds similar but is a different word. Porpoise vs dolphin: porpoises have rounded snouts and spade-shaped teeth; most dolphins have a beak-like snout and cone-shaped teeth.
In the corpora
- Porpoises are smaller cousins of dolphins with rounded heads, no long beak and spade-shaped teeth.
- The vaquita, a porpoise in Mexico, is the rarest sea mammal; around ten were reported in recent surveys.
- A grey porpoise with a smiling face and no back fin still lives there.
- A 2022 survey counted about 1,250 finless porpoises, slightly more than five years before.
- The Mock Turtle says no wise fish would go anywhere without a «porpoise», which sounds like «purpose».
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «porpoise» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.