tadpole Definition
tad·pole (tad′pōl′)
noun
- the larva of certain amphibians, as frogs and toads, having gills and a tail and living in water: as it matures, the gills usually are lost and legs develop
- the free-swimming larval stage of tunicates, having gill slits and a notochord
Etymology: ME taddepol < tadde, toad + poll, head, hence, toad that seems all head
tadpole Usage Examples
Converse of object
- hatch: The hatching black tadpoles look very different to the adults.
- catch: The adults prey on small animals such as frogs and will also enter water to catch tadpoles, newts and even small fish.
- eat: They commonly prey on other insects, but large dragonfly nymphs are also capable of catching and eating tadpoles or small fish.
- see: Come back over the next few days and weeks to see the tadpoles grow!
- include: They will eat much of it, including tadpoles.
- develop: Stones projecting above the surface give developing tadpoles an opportunity to soak up the sun!
Adjective modifier
- large: All the fish were pink in color and shaped like large tadpoles.
- small: From this mass of eggs there emerge numbers of small dark tadpoles.
- other: Newts will eat tadpoles, but then so do other tadpoles - that's life in the pond!
- little: Its spawn is in long strings of jelly like eggs - from which little black tadpoles emerge.
- tiny: Move, & move again lower, to by tiny lac au tadpoles.
- black: Its spawn is in long strings of jelly like eggs - from which little black tadpoles emerge.
Modifies a noun
- shrimp: I see my fairy shrimps and tadpole shrimps avoid nets, or thrash when a predator bites them.
- stage: There are some species that do not conform to the norm and may take up to 6 months to go through the tadpole stage.
- larva: The tadpole larvae are often present in plankton catches.
Noun used with modifier
- toad: Newts will eat frog tadpoles, but take toad tadpoles less readily.
- newt: The newt tadpole looks more like the adult form, unlike frog or toad juveniles which do not.
- frog: The frog tadpoles still have not grown any legs.
Possessives
tail: In some amphibians, such as frogs and toads, the tadpole's tail is eventually lost by being absorbed into the body.
Preposition: in
pond: So I now consider that I have tadpoles in the new pond!
Browse dictionary entries near tadpole
- ‹ tad
- ‹ tactual
- ‹ tactless
- ‹ taction
- ‹ tactile corpuscle
- ‹ tactile
- ‹ tactics
- ‹ tactician
- ‹ tactical
- ‹ tactic
- Tadzhik ›
- Tadzhik Soviet Socialist Republic ›
- Tadzhiki ›
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- taedium vitae ›
- Taegu ›
- Taejon ›
- tael ›
- taenia ›
- taeniacide ›

