Gorgonian

//ɡɔːˈɡəʊ.ni.ən// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A member of the order Alcyonacea, comprising the soft corals.

    "Some gorgonians, living in shallow, sunlit waters, tend to be brightly coloured – gold, purple, red – and flex softly in the currents."

  2. 2
    corals having a horny or calcareous branching skeleton wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or relating to the mythical gorgon; terrible or repulsive.
  2. 2
    Of or relating to any coral of the order Alcyonacea.

Synonyms

All synonyms
gorgonian coral

Example

More examples

"Some gorgonians, living in shallow, sunlit waters, tend to be brightly coloured – gold, purple, red – and flex softly in the currents."

Etymology

From gorgon + -ian.

Related phrases

soft coral

More for "gorgonian"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.