starfish

noun

star·​fish ˈstär-ˌfish 

: any of a class (Asteroidea) of echinoderms that have a body of usually five arms radially arranged about a central disk and feed largely on mollusks (such as oysters)

called also sea star

Examples of starfish in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The national seashore is made up of a series of parks, beaches, and islands, split between Florida and Mississippi, and all surrounded by clear, aqua-blue waters that are home to gopher tortoises, bottlenose dolphins, starfish, crabs…and the 300 species of birds that migrate through the area. —Graham Averill, Outside Online, 4 Feb. 2025

Much about the couple’s trip wasn’t made public, except for photos Kennedy posted to his Instagram account showing him visiting churches, playing on the beach and catching starfish. —Martha Ross, The Mercury News, 30 Jan. 2025

Leadership Lessons from the Sea Star Sea stars, also known as starfish, play a surprising yet critical role in their ecosystems. —Scott Hutcheson, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025

The rarest sighting of the day, however, was a giant starfish known as a sunflower sea star — its 20 or so arms can span three feet. —Kevin West, Travel + Leisure, 4 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1538, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for starfish

• bluefish
• catfish
• codfish
• crawfish
• dogfish
• finfish
• flatfish
• goldfish
• groundfish
• kingfish
• offish
• redfish

Kids Definition

starfish

noun

star·​fish ˈstär-ˌfish 

: any of a class of echinoderms that have five arms arranged evenly around a central disk and feed largely on mollusks (as oysters)