How to Use harpoon in a Sentence

harpoon

noun
  • The heavy creature then swam back to the boat where the group was able to pull it up on deck with a harpoon and gaffs.
    Brian Whipkey, USA TODAY, 23 July 2022
  • As the nudibranch tries to grasp its prey, the prey fires its tiny harpoons at the nudibranch.
    Helen Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Apr. 2024
  • Back at home, the big harpoon still needs more testing.
    Sophie Weiner, Popular Mechanics, 16 Mar. 2018
  • When the whale was struck, more harpoons were thrown — all attached to floats — to keep the whale from diving.
    Susanne Rust, Anchorage Daily News, 8 Dec. 2019
  • And the orcas needed the harpoons to finish off their prey.
    Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 9 Nov. 2023
  • The monster truck is shown equipped with a harpoon and flamethrower for the battles on Fury Road.
    Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 9 Sep. 2021
  • Early missions tried harpoons and thrusters, and had a rough time.
    IEEE Spectrum, 8 Sep. 2023
  • Our guide handed them the tip of a harpoon and then pointed out the window to Mount Greylock off in the distance.
    Dinaw Mengestu, Travel + Leisure, 21 July 2021
  • And if this doesn't work, then maybe the giant space harpoon will eliminate space junk.
    David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, 21 June 2019
  • As a result, Navy ships were limited to just eight Harpoons at a time.
    Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 28 July 2017
  • Stafford worked to hook another line into the reptile, then Bellinger tried to jab its neck with a harpoon.
    Patrick Connolly, orlandosentinel.com, 23 July 2018
  • Cusack and Streeter would team on three other projects that delivered harpoons to the heart.
    James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2023
  • In the ocean, jellyfish can shoot out their harpoons about 100 times as fast as the shrimp, but the action is not repeatable.
    Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Mar. 2023
  • The large satellite will attempt to recapture the smaller satellites with a harpoon and a net.
    Andrea Leinfelder, Houston Chronicle, 20 June 2018
  • Concepts include the space equivalent of a net, a magnet, or a harpoon.
    Jason Thomson, The Christian Science Monitor, 5 Apr. 2023
  • Out on the sea hunting a whale with a harpoon, or lost in our cyber world, human beings are still tackling the same issues.
    Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2023
  • The satellite will use a net and harpoon to try and clear up some of thousands of pieces of debris currently orbiting Earth.
    David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, 25 June 2018
  • At this point, Hinderliter was given a large harpoon with a detachable head affixed to a rope and a float.
    Bob McNally, Outdoor Life, 13 Feb. 2023
  • Here is how they’re sourced: Wild: There are bluefin tuna that are caught in the wild in a number of ways, from purse seine (a large netting), to trolling (luring through lines of bait) and harpoon gear.
    Jean Trinh, Los Angeles Times, 3 May 2023
  • Lifeguards were given shotguns and harpoons and long lines baited with dead lambs.
    The Washington Post, AL.com, 31 May 2017
  • Brower felt the shuddering harpoon enter the whale’s body.
    Krista Langlois, Smithsonian, 6 Apr. 2018
  • Yet what looked like a mega-gaffe with Hannity turned out to be Giuliani taking a harpoon for the President.
    Dana Bash, CNN, 31 May 2018
  • Their company owns a harpoon fishing boat, the Pilikia, which is harbored in San Diego.
    Pam Kragen, sandiegouniontribune.com, 26 Oct. 2017
  • The satellite will launch a handful of small cubesats to act as targets, and the main satellite will attempt to capture them with both a giant net and a harpoon.
    Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, 3 Apr. 2018
  • DeOrbit would snare big pieces of space junk using a net or harpoon and dispatch them Earthward.
    Corey S Powell, Discover Magazine, 20 May 2015
  • Then everything rests on the acuity of the striker in the bow, who holds a darting gun loaded with an exploding harpoon.
    Author: Julia O'Malley, Alaska Dispatch News, 12 Aug. 2017
  • Skomal leaned from the 11-foot-long pulpit with the harpoon, which ended in a titanium dart attached to two tags.
    New York Times, 20 Oct. 2021
  • In 19th-century Australia, a pod of killer whales was known to herd baleen whales into a bay near a whalers’ settlement, then slap their tails to alert the humans to ready the harpoons.
    Camille Bromley, WIRED, 29 Aug. 2023
  • There’s a harpoon here, a miniature sailboat there, plus cozy alcove tables whose mirrors show the patina of age.
    Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 21 Aug. 2023
  • Another group of oomycetes uses cells that behave like prey-seeking harpoons, injecting the fungal spores into the worm to seal its fate.
    Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 18 Jan. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'harpoon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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