Sealion

//ˈsiːlaɪən// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of sea lion. alt-of, alternative, uncommon
  2. 2
    One who engages in sealioning. Internet, derogatory

    "Randi's list is a key reason I've been able to continue to use Twitter, as it prevents relentless ideological sealions from crowding my mentions."

Verb
  1. 1
    To intrude on a conversation with probing questions in an attempt to engage in unwanted debate, usually disingenuously as a form of harassment or trolling. Internet, derogatory

    "There, Peggy speaks for every angry marginalised person who’s ever been sealioned or tone-policed in a disagreement."

Synonyms

All synonyms
sealioner

Example

More examples

"There, Peggy speaks for every angry marginalised person who’s ever been sealioned or tone-policed in a disagreement."

Etymology

The verb is from “The Terrible Sea Lion”, a 2014 strip in the webcomic Wondermark, in which a character expresses a dislike of sea lions and a passing sea lion repeatedly, intrusively asks the character to justify this.

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