soft-finned

American

[sawft-find, soft-] / ˈsɔftˈfɪnd, ˈsɒft- /

adjective

Ichthyology.

having fins supported by articulated rays rather than by spines, as a malacopterygian.

soft-finned British

adjective

(of certain teleost fishes) having fins that are supported by flexible cartilaginous rays See also malacopterygian Compare spiny-finned

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of soft-finned

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He placed the sturgeon in his Cartilaginous series; while in his soft-finned order he found a place for the Polypterus of the Nile and the Lepidosteus of the Ohio and St. Lawrence.

From The Testimony of the Rocks or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed by Miller, Hugh

Having no spines to their fins, the Gadids used, in Cuvierian days, to be associated with the herrings, Salmonids, pike, &c., in the artificially-conceived order of Malacopterygians, or soft-finned bony fishes.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 6 "Cockaigne" to "Columbus, Christopher" by Various

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023