| acidification | (noun) the process of becoming acid or being converted into an acid | - |
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| affiance | (verb) give to in marriage | Synonyms: betroth, engage, plight |
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| affiant | (noun) a person who makes an affidavit | - |
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| affidavit | (noun) written declaration made under oath; a written statement sworn to be true before someone legally authorized to administer an oath | - |
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| affiliate | (noun) a subsidiary or subordinate organization that is affiliated with another organization | - |
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| (noun) a subordinate or subsidiary associate; a person who is affiliated with another or with an organization | - |
| (verb) join in an affiliation | - |
| (verb) keep company with; hang out with | Synonyms: associate, assort, consort |
| affiliated | (adjective) being joined in close association | Synonyms: attached, connected |
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| affiliation | (noun) the act of becoming formally connected or joined | - |
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| (noun) a social or business relationship | Synonyms: association, tie-up, tie |
| affinal | (adjective) (anthropology) related by marriage | Synonyms: affine |
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| affine | (adjective) (mathematics) of or pertaining to the geometry of affine transformations | - |
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| (adjective) (anthropology) related by marriage | Synonyms: affinal |
| (noun) (anthropology) kin by marriage | - |
| affined | (adjective) closely related | - |
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| affinity | (noun) inherent resemblance between persons or things | - |
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| (noun) a natural attraction or feeling of kinship | - |
| (noun) the force attracting atoms to each other and binding them together in a molecule | Synonyms: chemical attraction |
| (noun) (immunology) the attraction between an antigen and an antibody | - |
| (noun) (anthropology) kinship by marriage or adoption; not a blood relationship | - |
| (noun) (biology) state of relationship between organisms or groups of organisms resulting in resemblance in structure or structural parts | Synonyms: phylogenetic relation |
| (noun) a close connection marked by community of interests or similarity in nature or character | Synonyms: kinship |
| affirm | (verb) establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts | Synonyms: confirm, corroborate, substantiate, support, sustain |
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| (verb) to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true | Synonyms: assert, aver, avow, swan, swear, verify |
| (verb) say yes to | - |
| affirmable | (adjective) capable of being affirmed or asserted | Synonyms: assertable |
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| affirmation | (noun) a judgment by a higher court that the judgment of a lower court was correct and should stand | - |
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| (noun) a statement asserting the existence or the truth of something | Synonyms: avouchment, avowal |
| (noun) (religion) a solemn declaration that serves the same purpose as an oath (if an oath is objectionable to the person on religious or ethical grounds) | - |
| (noun) the act of affirming or asserting or stating something | Synonyms: assertion, statement |
| affirmative | (adjective) affirming or giving assent | Synonyms: affirmatory |
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| (adjective) expressing or manifesting praise or approval | Synonyms: approbative, approbatory, approving, plausive |
| (adjective) expecting the best | Synonyms: optimistic |
| (noun) a reply of affirmation | - |
| affirmatively | (adverb) in an affirmative manner | - |
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| affirmativeness | (noun) the agreeable quality of one who assents | - |
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| affirmatory | (adjective) affirming or giving assent | Synonyms: affirmative |
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| affirmer | (noun) someone who claims to speak the truth | Synonyms: asserter, asseverator, avower, declarer |
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| affix | (noun) a linguistic element added to a word to produce an inflected or derived form | - |
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| (verb) stick or fasten to | Synonyms: stick on |
| (verb) add to the very end | Synonyms: add on, append, supplement |
| (verb) attach or become attached to a stem word | - |
| affixal | (adjective) of or pertaining to a linguistic affix | Synonyms: affixial |
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| affixation | (noun) formation of a word by means of an affix | - |
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| (noun) the act of attaching or affixing something | Synonyms: attachment |
| (noun) the result of adding an affix to a root word | - |
| affixed | (adjective) firmly attached | - |
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| affixial | (adjective) of or pertaining to a linguistic affix | Synonyms: affixal |
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| afibrinogenemia | (noun) the absence of fibrinogen in the plasma leading to prolonged bleeding | - |
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| aficionado | (noun) a serious devotee of some particular music genre or musical performer | - |
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| (noun) a fan of bull fighting | - |
| afield | (adverb) off the subject; beyond the point at issue | - |
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| (adverb) in or into a field (especially a field of battle) | - |
| (adverb) far away from home or one's usual surroundings | Synonyms: abroad |
| afire | (adjective) lighted up by or as by fire or flame | Synonyms: ablaze, aflame, aflare, alight, on fire |
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| airfield | (noun) a place where planes take off and land | Synonyms: field, flying field, landing field |
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| alfilaria | (noun) European weed naturalized in southwestern United States and Mexico having reddish decumbent stems with small fernlike leaves and small deep reddish-lavender flowers followed by slender fruits that stick straight up; often grown for forage | Synonyms: alfileria, clocks, Erodium cicutarium, filaree, filaria, pin clover, pin grass, redstem storksbill |
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| alfileria | (noun) European weed naturalized in southwestern United States and Mexico having reddish decumbent stems with small fernlike leaves and small deep reddish-lavender flowers followed by slender fruits that stick straight up; often grown for forage | Synonyms: alfilaria, clocks, Erodium cicutarium, filaree, filaria, pin clover, pin grass, redstem storksbill |
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| alligatorfish | (noun) small very elongate sea poachers | Synonyms: Aspidophoroides monopterygius |
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| amberfish | (noun) any of several amber to coppery fork-tailed warm-water carangid fishes | Synonyms: amberjack |
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| ammonification | (noun) impregnation with ammonia or a compound of ammonia | - |
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| amplification | (noun) (electronics) the act of increasing voltage or power or current | - |
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| (noun) addition of extra material or illustration or clarifying detail | Synonyms: elaboration |
| (noun) the amount of increase in signal power or voltage or current expressed as the ratio of output to input | Synonyms: gain |
| amplifier | (noun) electronic equipment that increases strength of signals passing through it | - |
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| angelfish | (noun) sharks with broad flat bodies and winglike pectoral fins but that swim the way sharks do | Synonyms: angel shark, monkfish, Squatina squatina |
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| (noun) a butterfly fish of the genus Pomacanthus | - |
| (noun) deep-bodied disk-shaped food fish of warmer western Atlantic coastal waters | Synonyms: Chaetodipterus faber, spadefish |
| anglerfish | (noun) fishes having large mouths with a wormlike filament attached for luring prey | Synonyms: allmouth, angler, angler fish, goosefish, Lophius Americanus, lotte, monkfish |
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| antefix | (noun) carved ornament at the eaves of a tile roof concealing the joints between tiles | - |
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| archerfish | (noun) any of several small freshwater fishes that catch insects by squirting water at them and knocking them into the water; found in Indonesia and Australia | Synonyms: Toxotes jaculatrix |
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| artifice | (noun) a deceptive maneuver (especially to avoid capture) | Synonyms: ruse |
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| artificer | (noun) a skilled worker who practices some trade or handicraft | Synonyms: artisan, craftsman, journeyman |
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| (noun) someone who is the first to think of or make something | Synonyms: discoverer, inventor |
| (noun) an enlisted man responsible for the upkeep of small arms and machine guns etc. | Synonyms: armorer, armourer |
| artificial | (adjective) contrived by art rather than nature | Synonyms: unreal |
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| (adjective) artificially formal | Synonyms: contrived, hokey, stilted |
| (adjective) not arising from natural growth or characterized by vital processes | - |
| artificialism | (noun) Czech surrealism founded in 1928 by Jindrich Styrsky and Toyen (Marie Cerminova). | - |
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| artificiality | (noun) the quality of being produced by people and not occurring naturally | - |
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| artificially | (adverb) not according to nature; not by natural means | Synonyms: by artificial means, unnaturally |
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| backfield | (noun) the offensive football players who line up behind the linemen | - |
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| backfire | (noun) a miscalculation that recoils on its maker | Synonyms: boomerang |
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| (noun) a loud noise made by the explosion of fuel in the manifold or exhaust of an internal combustion engine | - |
| (noun) the backward escape of gases and unburned gunpowder after a gun is fired | Synonyms: blowback |
| (noun) a fire that is set intentionally in order to slow an approaching forest fire or grassfire by clearing a burned area in its path | - |
| (verb) set a controlled fire to halt an advancing forest to prairie fire | - |
| (verb) emit a loud noise as a result of undergoing a backfire | - |
| (verb) come back to the originator of an action with an undesired effect | Synonyms: backlash, recoil |
| balefire | (noun) a large outdoor fire that is lighted as a signal or in celebration | Synonyms: bonfire |
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| balloonfish | (noun) similar to but smaller than porcupinefish | Synonyms: Diodon holocanthus |
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| barrelfish | (noun) blackish fish of New England waters | Synonyms: black rudderfish, Hyperglyphe perciformis |
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| basifixed | (adjective) attached by its base (as certain anthers to their filaments or stalks) | - |
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| batfish | (noun) bottom-dweller of warm western Atlantic coastal waters having a flattened scaleless body that crawls about on fleshy pectoral and pelvic fins | - |
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| battlefield | (noun) a region where a battle is being (or has been) fought | Synonyms: battleground, field, field of battle, field of honor |
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| beatific | (adjective) marked by utter benignity; resembling or befitting an angel or saint | Synonyms: angelic, angelical, sainted, saintlike, saintly |
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| (adjective) experiencing or bestowing celestial joy | - |
| beatification | (noun) (Roman Catholic Church) an act of the Pope who declares that a deceased person lived a holy life and is worthy of public veneration; a first step toward canonization | - |
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| (noun) the action of rendering supremely blessed and extremely happy | - |
| (noun) a state of supreme happiness | Synonyms: beatitude, blessedness |
| beatified | (adjective) Roman Catholic; proclaimed one of the blessed and thus worthy of veneration | Synonyms: blessed |
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| beautification | (noun) the act of making something more beautiful | - |
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| befit | (verb) accord or comport with | Synonyms: beseem, suit |
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| befitting | (adjective) appropriate to | - |
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| befittingly | (adverb) in accordance with what is appropriate or suitable for the circumstances | Synonyms: appropriately, duly, fitly, fittingly, properly, suitably |
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| benefic | (adjective) exerting a favorable or beneficent influence | - |
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| benefice | (noun) an endowed church office giving income to its holder | Synonyms: ecclesiastical benefice |
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| (verb) endow with a benefice | - |
| beneficed | (adjective) having a benefice | - |
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| beneficence | (noun) the quality of being kind or helpful or generous | - |
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| (noun) doing good; feeling beneficent | - |
| beneficent | (adjective) doing or producing good | - |
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| (adjective) generous in assistance to the poor | Synonyms: benevolent, eleemosynary, philanthropic |
| beneficial | (adjective) promoting or enhancing well-being | Synonyms: good |
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| beneficially | (adverb) in a beneficial manner | - |
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| beneficiary | (adjective) having or arising from a benefice | - |
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| (noun) the semantic role of the intended recipient who benefits from the happening denoted by the verb in the clause | Synonyms: benefactive role |
| (noun) the recipient of funds or other benefits | Synonyms: donee |
| beneficiate | (verb) process (ores or other raw materials), as by reduction | - |
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| beneficiation | (noun) crushing and separating ore into valuable substances or waste by any of a variety of techniques | Synonyms: mineral dressing, mineral extraction, mineral processing, ore dressing, ore processing |
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| benefit | (noun) something that aids or promotes well-being | Synonyms: welfare |
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| (noun) a performance to raise money for a charitable cause | - |
| (noun) financial assistance in time of need | - |
| (verb) derive a benefit from | Synonyms: gain, profit |
| (verb) be beneficial for | Synonyms: do good |
| benficiate | (verb) subject to a reduction process | - |
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| bifid | (adjective) divided into two lobes | - |
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| bifilar | (adjective) having or using two filaments | - |
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| billfish | (noun) giant warm-water game fish having a prolonged and rounded toothless upper jaw | - |
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| (noun) elongate European surface-dwelling predacious fishes with long toothed jaws; abundant in coastal waters | Synonyms: gar, needlefish |
| (noun) primitive predaceous North American fish covered with hard scales and having long jaws with needlelike teeth | Synonyms: gar, garfish, garpike, Lepisosteus osseus |
| (noun) slender long-beaked fish of temperate Atlantic waters | Synonyms: saury, Scomberesox saurus |
| bipinnatifid | (adjective) pinnatifid with the segments also pinnatifid | - |
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| blackfish | (noun) female salmon that has recently spawned | - |
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| (noun) small dark-colored whale of the Atlantic coast of the United States; the largest male acts as pilot or leader for the school | Synonyms: black whale, common blackfish, Globicephala melaena, pilot whale |
| (noun) large dark-colored food fish of the Atlantic coast of North America | Synonyms: tautog, Tautoga onitis |
| blowfish | (noun) any of numerous marine fishes whose elongated spiny body can inflate itself with water or air to form a globe; several species contain a potent nerve poison; closely related to spiny puffers | Synonyms: globefish, puffer, pufferfish |
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| (noun) delicacy that is highly dangerous because of a potent nerve poison in ovaries and liver | Synonyms: puffer, pufferfish, sea squab |
| bluefin | (noun) largest tuna; to 1500 pounds; of mostly temperate seas: feed in polar regions but breed in tropics | Synonyms: bluefin tuna, horse mackerel, Thunnus thynnus |
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| (noun) flesh of very large tuna | Synonyms: bluefin tuna |
| bluefish | (noun) bluish warm-water marine food and game fish that follow schools of small fishes into shallow waters | Synonyms: Pomatomus saltatrix |
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| (noun) fatty bluish flesh of bluefish | - |
| boarfish | (noun) fish with a projecting snout | Synonyms: Capros aper |
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| (noun) fish with large eyes and long snouts | - |
| boffin | (noun) (British slang) a scientist or technician engaged in military research | - |
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| bonefish | (noun) slender silvery marine fish found in tropical mud flats and mangrove lagoons | Synonyms: Albula vulpes |
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| bonfire | (noun) a large outdoor fire that is lighted as a signal or in celebration | Synonyms: balefire |
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| bowfin | (noun) primitive long-bodied carnivorous freshwater fish with a very long dorsal fin; found in sluggish waters of North America | Synonyms: Amia calva, dogfish, grindle |
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| boxfish | (noun) any of numerous small tropical fishes having body and head encased in bony plates | Synonyms: trunkfish |
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| brickfield | (noun) a place where bricks are made and sold | Synonyms: brickyard |
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| briefing | (noun) detailed instructions, as for a military operation | - |
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| buffalofish | (noun) any of several large suckers of the Mississippi valley | Synonyms: buffalo fish |
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| (noun) large carp-like North American fish | - |
| bullfight | (noun) a Spanish or Portuguese or Latin American spectacle; a matador baits and (usually) kills a bull in an arena before many spectators | Synonyms: corrida |
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| bullfighter | (noun) someone who fights bulls | Synonyms: toreador |
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| bullfighting | (noun) the activity at a bullfight | Synonyms: tauromachy |
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| bullfinch | (noun) common European finch mostly black and white with red throat and breast | Synonyms: Pyrrhula pyrrhula |
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| bunfight | (noun) (Briticism) a grand formal party on an important occasion | Synonyms: bun-fight |
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| burrfish | (noun) any of several fishes having rigid flattened spines | - |
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| butterfingered | (adjective) lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands | Synonyms: bumbling, bungling, ham-fisted, ham-handed, handless, heavy-handed, left-handed |
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| butterfingers | (noun) someone who drops things (especially one who cannot catch a ball) | - |
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| butterfish | (noun) small marine fish with a short compressed body and feeble spines | Synonyms: stromateid, stromateid fish |
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| (noun) slippery scaleless food fish of the northern Atlantic coastal waters | Synonyms: Pholis gunnellus, rock gunnel |
| (noun) any of numerous small flat Atlantic food fish having smooth skin | - |
| butterflyfish | (noun) tropical fish with huge fanlike pectoral fins for underwater gliding; unrelated to searobins | Synonyms: flying gurnard, flying robin |
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