Meaning & use

plankton

noun·Academic

Tiny organisms that drift in oceans, lakes, or rivers and form the base of aquatic food chains.

See it in a sentence

Whales filter huge amounts of plankton from seawater as their main food source.

Under the microscope, the pond water revealed thousands of tiny plankton.

A note on using this word

Plankton includes both plant-like phytoplankton and animal-like zooplankton, unified by their inability to swim against currents.

Words with a similar meaning

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