TRUE SEAL

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does true seal mean? 

• TRUE SEAL (noun)
  The noun TRUE SEAL has 1 sense:

1. any of several seals lacking external ear flaps and having a stiff hairlike coat with hind limbs reduced to swimming flippers

  Familiarity information: TRUE SEAL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRUE SEAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of several seals lacking external ear flaps and having a stiff hairlike coat with hind limbs reduced to swimming flippers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

earless seal; hair seal; true seal

Hypernyms ("true seal" is a kind of...):

seal (any of numerous marine mammals that come on shore to breed; chiefly of cold regions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "true seal"):

common seal; harbor seal; Phoca vitulina (small spotted seal of coastal waters of the northern hemisphere)

harp seal; Pagophilus groenlandicus (common Arctic seal; the young are all white)

elephant seal; sea elephant (either of two large northern Atlantic earless seals having snouts like trunks)

bearded seal; Erignathus barbatus; squareflipper square flipper (medium-sized greyish to yellow seal with bristles each side of muzzle; of the Arctic Ocean)

bladdernose; Cystophora cristata; hooded seal (medium-sized blackish-grey seal with large inflatable sac on the head; of Arctic and northern Atlantic waters)

Holonyms ("true seal" is a member of...):

family Phocidae; Phocidae (earless seals)