coral Definition
coral (kôr′əl, kär′-)
noun
- the hard, stony skeleton secreted by certain marine polyps (class Anthozoa) and often deposited in extensive masses forming reefs and atolls in tropical seas
- any such polyp (esp. order Scleractinia) living singly or in large colonies
- a piece of coral, esp. the red kind used in jewelry
- the mature ovaries of the lobster
- a yellowish red or yellowish pink
Etymology: OFr < L coralium < Gr korallion < ? Heb gōrál, pebble or Ar garal, small stone
adjective
- made of coral
- coral-red or coral-pink
coral Usage Examples
Converse of object
- fossilize: Structurally different from Pitcairn, which towered from the sea, Henderson is a flat atoll made of fossilized coral.
- sponge: It is an ideal food for all filter feeders such as Fan worms, sponges soft corals and many more.
Adjective modifier
- gorgonian: Some of the huge gorgonian fan corals are more than 3m high.
- soft: There were also a myriad of soft corals of all colors from red to yellow to purple.
- deep-water: Deep-water corals such as Lophelia pertusa live in the cold, dark waters of the Atlantic, the Darwin Mounds are 1,000 meters down.
- stony: In addition to encouraging unwanted algae growth, phosphates slow the skeletal growth of stony corals.
- pristine: What you will not find here are pristine corals.
- colorful: Crystal clear waters, colorful coral and tropical fish abound and combine to make for an interesting day at the beach.
Modifies a noun
- reef: Compared with coral reefs, vast swathes of the ocean appeared to be devoid of life.
- atoll: We went on Captain Cook Tours trip to a coral atoll.
- cay: North West Island - the largest coral cay on the Great Barrier Reef, covering an area of 91 hectares.
- polyp: The hard skeleton of coral is built by a community of animals related to jellyfish, coral polyps.
- calcium: But coral calcium contains high levels of alkaline minerals which help to promote a more alkaline state.
- bommies: The Aquarium A gentle drift dive past lots of coral bommies, with plenty of fish life around the cleaning station.
Noun used with modifier
- cold-water: They are often seen in and around the deep, cold-water coral reefs west of Norway and Britain.
- staghorn: At about 7 meters the reef appeared colorful with large fields of staghorn corals.
- reef-building: Their main research interests are color vision and color perception in marine animals and stress in reef-building corals due to climate change respectively.
- deep-sea: Deep-sea corals, including Lophelia, are already covered by the European Union's habitat directive which applies to the uk 200-mile limit.
- sunset: Current status The sunset cup coral Leptopsammia pruvoti occurs in groups of a few tens to several hundred individuals.
- whip: A little deeper there is a forest of whip coral covering 30 or more square meters of the hard coral bed.
Browse dictionary entries near coral
- ‹ coracoid
- ‹ coracle
- ‹ coraciiform
- ‹ Cora
- ‹ cor-
- ‹ cor anglais
- ‹ cor
- ‹ coquito
- ‹ coquina
- ‹ coquille
- coral bells ›
- coral reef ›
- Coral Sea ›
- coral snake ›
- Coral Springs ›
- coralberry ›
- coralline ›
- coralloid ›
- coralroot ›
- coranto ›

