A culinary and nutritional term for several groups of non-piscine, non-tetrapod, aquatic animals that are used as a food source. The term often exclusively refers to edible aquatic crustaceans, bivalve mollusks and cephalopod mollusks; but sometimes echinoderms may be included as well.
Used in a Sentence
shellfish
Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for shellfish.
Editorial note
My wife has fish and shellfish allergies, but a surprising number of places were OK with that.
Examples10
Definitions2
Parts of speech1
Quick take
A culinary and nutritional term for several groups of non-piscine, non-tetrapod, aquatic animals that are used as a food source. The term often exclusively refers to edible aquatic crustaceans, bivalve mollusks and cephalopod mollusks; but sometimes echinoderms may be included as well.
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of shellfish gathered in one view.
A fisheries and colloquial term for an aquatic invertebrate having an inner or outer shell, such as a mollusc or crustacean, especially when edible.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for shellfish.
noun
A culinary and nutritional term for several groups of non-piscine, non-tetrapod, aquatic animals that are used as a food source. The term often exclusively refers to edible aquatic crustaceans, bivalve mollusks and cephalopod mollusks; but sometimes echinoderms may be included as well.
noun
A fisheries and colloquial term for an aquatic invertebrate having an inner or outer shell, such as a mollusc or crustacean, especially when edible.
Example sentences
My wife has fish and shellfish allergies, but a surprising number of places were OK with that.
Saltwater fish and shellfish contain iodine, but one would have to eat 15-25 pounds of fish to get 13 mg of iodine.
So I make a point of eating more gelatin and shellfish in preference to isolated servings of muscle meat.
Might as well talk about meat yields of diving for shellfish.
I loved the semi-aquatic-ape theory (that in foraging for shellfish we lost our fur as whales, dophins, hippos did), but I understand that one has fallen from favour.
Well for a start we're threatening the survival of every animal that depends on calcium carbonate shells (think corals and shellfish), and then threatening the rest of the ecosystem within which they live.
In the modern day, if not the past, we can tolerate outgroups that have different taboos (eating shellfish), have different mandatory standards of politeness (bowing, formal versus informal address to seniors and strangers), etc.
Rules are, especially at the beginning, no processed meats, nothing not pasteurized, no shellfish, no alcohol, limit caffeine, no soft cheeses like feta and blue, be extra careful about coking meat until done and kitchen sanitation.
Quote examples
>>> Many types of aquatic animals commonly referred to as "fish" are not fish in the sense given above; examples include shellfish, cuttlefish, starfish, crayfish and jellyfish.
Proper noun examples
Shellfish are considered unclean in Judaism, but you shouldn't generalize from that to assume every other culture views them the same way, as with pork, the religious prohibition probably originated with the elevated risk of food-borne illness that was exacerbated by the climate.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use shellfish in a sentence?
My wife has fish and shellfish allergies, but a surprising number of places were OK with that.
What does shellfish mean?
A culinary and nutritional term for several groups of non-piscine, non-tetrapod, aquatic animals that are used as a food source. The term often exclusively refers to edible aquatic crustaceans, bivalve mollusks and cephalopod mollusks; but sometimes echinoderms may be included as well.
What part of speech is shellfish?
shellfish is commonly used as noun.