cetacean








adjective

  1. belonging to the Cetacea, an order of aquatic, chiefly marine mammals, including the whales and dolphins.

noun

  1. a cetacean mammal.

adjective Also: cetaceous

  1. of, relating to, or belonging to the Cetacea, an order of aquatic placental mammals having no hind limbs and a blowhole for breathing: includes toothed whales (dolphins, porpoises, etc) and whalebone whales (rorquals, right whales, etc)

noun

  1. a whale
n.

1836, from Cetacea, name of the order of marine mammals, + -an. As an adjective from 1839.

  1. Any of various, often very large aquatic mammals of the order Cetacea, having a hairless body that resembles that of a fish. Cetaceans have an elongated skull, a flat, horizontal tail, forelimbs modified into broad flippers, and no hind limbs. They breathe through blowholes located usually at the top of the skull. Whales, dolphins, and porpoises are cetaceans. See more at baleen whale toothed whale.
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