noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any of several North American freshwater fish, of the genus Coregonus, used as food.
2. 2
   silvery herring-like freshwater food fish of cold lakes of the Northern Hemisphere wordnet
3. 3
   Any of several other fish, such as whiting (Merlangius merlangus) or menhaden (Brevoortia spp. and Ethmidium spp.).
4. 4
   flesh of salmon-like or trout-like cold-water fish of cold lakes of the Northern Hemisphere wordnet
5. 5
   Any of several species of demersal fish with fins, particularly cod, whiting, and haddock, as opposed to the oily or pelagic fishes.

Show 3 more definitions

6. 6
   any market fish — edible saltwater fish or shellfish — except herring wordnet
7. 7
   A beluga (both the sturgeon and the whale).
8. 8
   A lesser queenfish (Scomberoides lysan)

Verb

1. 1
   To fish for whitefish.

   "“Perhaps he went whitefishing after he had his supper.”"

Synonyms

All synonyms

fishkilch

Example

More examples

"“Perhaps he went whitefishing after he had his supper.”"

Etymology

From white + fish.

Related phrases

Alaska whitefishAtlantic whitefishBear Lake whitefish Prosopium abyssicolaCape whitefishConey Island whitefishEuropean whitefishMenominee whitefishRocky Mountain whitefishbroad whitefishcommon whitefishfreshwater whitefishhumpbacked whitefish

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