What does "sharkish" mean?

Having shark-like characteristics, such as fierceness or agility.

What is a synonym for "sharkish"?

Common synonyms include: animal, atrocious, barbaric, barbarous, beastly, bestial.

//ˈʃɑɹkɪʃ// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Adjective

1
Having shark-like characteristics, such as fierceness or agility.
"Pious harpooneers never make good voyagers—it takes the shark out of 'em; no harpooneer is worth a straw who aint pretty sharkish."

"Pious harpooneers never make good voyagers—it takes the shark out of 'em; no harpooneer is worth a straw who aint pretty sharkish."

From shark + -ish.

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