humpback

UK/ˈhʌmpbæk/US/ˈhʌmpbæk/

nounB2Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,171 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: humpbacks

A humpback is a hunched back, or the whale that has one. A humpback whale, a humpback bridge, the humpback breached.

The whale is named for the shape it makes when diving, and its song travels for miles and changes from year to year across a whole population. Used of a person, humpback and hunchback are both dated and hurtful, and the condition is kyphosis.

Definitions of humpback

1nounhumpbackA hunched back, or the whale that has one.B2
“We watched a humpback leap out of the sea and crash back down.”

humpback is a shape, or a whale.

Where it comes from

Hump plus back. The whale took the name from the arch of its back as it dives.

From hump + back.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

humpback in the wild

The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with long pectoral fins and tubercles on its head.
Humpback whale
Found in oceans and seas around the world, humpback whales typically migrate between feeding areas towards the poles and breeding areas near the equator.
Humpback whale
The Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis) is a species of humpback dolphin inhabiting coastal waters of the eastern Indian and western Pacific Oceans.
Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin
The Atlantic humpback dolphin (Sousa teuszii) is a species of humpback dolphin that is found in coastal areas of West Africa.
Atlantic humpback dolphin
The Indian Ocean humpback dolphin (Sousa plumbea) is a member of the Delphinidae family occupying coastal areas ranging from Southern Africa to Western Indochina.
Indian Ocean humpback dolphin

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

← Vocabulary