shoal

CEFRC2

/ʃəʊl/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A large group of fish swimming together.

  2. 02

    noun

    A shallow area of water.

Examples

  • We've located the shoal of herring.

  • We've spotted that shoal of herring.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A sandbank or sandbar creating a shallow.

  2. A shallow in a body of water.

verb

Extra meaning

  1. To arrive at a shallow (or less deep) area.

More examples

In context

  • The colour of the water shows where it shoals.

  • Shoals of tourists

  • c. 1661, Edmund Waller, On St. James's Park Beneath, a shoal of silver fishes glides.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The fisherman saw a large blank of fish swimming near the boat.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English schold, scholde, from Old English sċeald (“shallow”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *skalidaz, past participle of *skaljaną (“to go dry, dry up, become shallow”), from *skalaz (“parched, shallow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to dry out”). Cognate with Low German Scholl (“shallow water”), German schal (“stale, flat, vapid”). Compare shallow.