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# caiman

«caiman» in Mova's school dictionary: **a reptile of the alligator family that lives in the…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a caiman, caimans)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A caiman is a reptile of the alligator family that lives in the rivers, lakes and swamps of Central and South America. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caiman/#m1)

2) Caimans have long jaws, tough scaly skin and are usually smaller than alligators and crocodiles, although the black caiman can grow very large. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caiman/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science and geography lessons caimans come up in Amazon rainforest and wetland habitats and food chains: they eat fish, birds and small mammals, and are hunted by jaguars and anacondas. Pupils compare crocodiles, alligators and caimans: caimans have a bony ridge between their eyes, like the frame of glasses (the spectacled caiman).

### examples

- A caiman floated in the river with only its eyes showing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caiman/#x1)
- Caimans live in South America. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caiman/#x2)
- The jaguar caught a caiman on the riverbank. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caiman/#x3)
- The spectacled caiman has a ridge between its eyes like glasses. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caiman/#x4)
- A caiman is a relative of the alligator. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caiman/#x5)
- Caimans lay their eggs in nests of leaves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caiman/#x6)
- The black caiman is the biggest caiman. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caiman/#x7)

### note

Plural «caimans». Also spelt «cayman», as in the Cayman Islands. Say «KAY-mun». Crocodiles, alligators and caimans are related but different reptiles.

### In the corpora

- [Caimans and crocodiles bask with their mouths open to let heat escape and cool down; it is not a threat or a yawn.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/42-the-capybara/16/)
- [The jaguar has the strongest bite for its size of any big cat and can crack turtle shells and caiman skulls.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/157-the-amazon-forest-floor/10/)
- [The black caiman is the biggest predator of the Amazon, over four metres long, and hunts fish and capybaras at night.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/158-amazon-giants-and-tall-tales/7/)
- [When hunters killed most black caimans, piranhas grew in number, because caimans had been eating them.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/158-amazon-giants-and-tall-tales/8/)
- [Caimans rarely attack big grown capybaras, which are too big and alert, and the two often share river banks.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/158-amazon-giants-and-tall-tales/11/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «caiman» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caiman/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.