Meaning & use
Clam
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A soft-bodied, bivalve mollusk with a hinged shell, typically found burrowed in sand or mud along coastlines.
See it in a sentence
They steamed a pot of clams fresh from the bay.
The tide pool was full of tiny clams buried just beneath the surface.
A note on using this word
As part of the phrase "clam up," the word means to suddenly become silent or refuse to talk, an image borrowed from a clam snapping its shell shut.
Words with a similar meaning
bivalvemollusk
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Another way to use it
2. verb
To become silent, especially suddenly, and refuse to speak (usually as "clam up").
As soon as the police arrived, the witness clammed up.
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