Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
Any one of numerous species of small fish of the family Gasterosteidae. The back is armed with two or more sharp spines. They inhabit both salt and brackish water, and construct nests from weeds.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: minnow, sticklebag, sharpling
Antonyms: none provided
noun
small (2-4 inches) pugnacious mostly scaleless spiny-backed fishes of northern fresh and littoral waters having elaborate courtship; subjects of much research
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: prickleback
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: spiny-finned fish, acanthopterygian
Narrower terms: three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, ten-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus pungitius
History
From dialectal stickle (“a prickle, spine, sting”), from Old English sticel + bæc. See stick (transitive verb) and compare banstickle.
Across languages
22 source translations are retained for this English entry.
