Planktonic

//plæŋkˈtɑnɪk// adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or pertaining to plankton. not-comparable

    "Tiny shells of planktonic animals rain down from the surface waters of the ocean on to the deep sea-floor."

  2. 2
    Floating in the open sea rather than living on the seafloor. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    of or relating to plankton wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
planktontic

Example

More examples

"Tiny shells of planktonic animals rain down from the surface waters of the ocean on to the deep sea-floor."

Etymology

From plankton + -ic, after German planktonisch. From Ancient Greek πλαγκτόν (planktón, “drifting”), neuter nominative of πλαγκτός (planktós), from πλάζομαι (plázomai, “to wander, drift”), from πλάζω (plázō, “to cause to wander, drive astray”).

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