Meaning & use
shark
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A large fish with a skeleton made of cartilage, sharp teeth, and a reputation for attacking people.
Grammar: Countable: a shark, several sharks; the plural sharks refers to more than one.
Patterns
- a shark in the water
- swim with sharks
- be attacked by a shark
We saw a shark while snorkeling near the reef.
Sharks play an important role in keeping ocean ecosystems balanced.
The beach was closed after a shark was spotted close to shore.
nouncountabledisapproving
A person who takes advantage of others, especially by lending money at very high interest or cheating in games.
Grammar: Countable and often used in compounds like loan shark or card shark.
Patterns
- a loan shark
- a card shark
- shark + who cheats someone
He borrowed money from a loan shark and could not repay it.
The card shark won every hand by tricking the other players.
Regulators are trying to stop financial sharks from targeting elderly clients.
Word forms
| plural | sharks |
|---|
Common combinations
- a shark attack
- Shark attacks are rare, but they receive a lot of news coverage.
- a loan shark
- She went to a loan shark when the bank refused her credit.
- a great white shark
- A great white shark can grow to more than five meters long.
- shark fin
- Shark fin soup is banned in several countries.
- swim with sharks
- Tourists pay to swim with sharks in a protected lagoon.
- shark-infested waters
- The sailors avoided the shark-infested waters near the island.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- sharklike adjective
- Resembling a shark in appearance or behavior.
Commonly confused: shark or shirk?
shark vs shirk
Shirk means to avoid work or duty; shark is the fish or the dishonest person. They sound similar but are unrelated.
Practice
Which sentence uses shark in the figurative, disapproving sense?
Choose one answer.
Option B describes a person who exploits borrowers, which is the figurative sense. The other options all refer to the animal.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “shark”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.