sawfish

noun

saw·​fish ˈsȯ-ˌfish 

: any of a family (Pristidae) of large elongate rays that resemble sharks but have a long flattened snout with a row of serrate structures along each edge and that live in tropical and subtropical shallow seas and in or near the mouths of rivers

Examples of sawfish in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Just before the report of the sick sawfish, Wiley’s team tagged and released a healthy adult offshore of Tampa Bay, concluding a five-year mission to catch the first-ever adult in local waters. —Jack Prator, The Orlando Sentinel, 16 Aug. 2025

But by January, things quieted down, with far fewer dead sawfish. —Bill Kearney, Sun Sentinel, 22 July 2025

But in small-scale or nearshore fisheries, many vulnerable species like sawfish, guitarfish, and rays are caught and even more threatened than sharks. —Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes.com, 17 July 2025

This was one of the reasons researchers believed sharks and other cartilaginous fish, including stingrays and sawfish, were silent. —Christopher Cann, USA Today, 26 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1635, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for sawfish

• bluefish
• catfish
• codfish
• crawfish
• dogfish
• finfish
• flatfish
• goldfish
• groundfish
• kingfish
• offish
• redfish

Kids Definition

sawfish

noun

saw·​fish ˈsȯ-ˌfish 

: any of several mostly tropical rays that resemble sharks but have a long flat snout with sharp toothlike structures along both edges