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# fin

«fin» in Mova's school dictionary: **A thin, flat part sticking out of a fish's or sea…** — 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 fin, fins)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A thin, flat part sticking out of a fish's or sea animal's body that helps it swim, steer and balance. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fin/#m1)

2) A similar flat part on a plane, rocket, car or surfboard that helps keep it steady. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fin/#m2)

3) Flippers worn on your feet for swimming (often called fins). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fin/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science, fins are an adaptation for life in water: fish use tail fins to push forward and other fins to steer and balance. Dolphins and whales have fins too, though they are mammals. In safety at the beach: a fin above the water could be a shark or a dolphin — get out of the water and tell a lifeguard. Phrases: dorsal fin (on the back), tail fin, shark fin, swim fins.

### examples

- The fish moved its fins to swim forward. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fin/#x1)
- A shark's dorsal fin stuck out of the water. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fin/#x2)
- Dolphins have fins, but they breathe air. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fin/#x3)
- We wore fins to swim faster when snorkelling. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fin/#x4)
- Rockets have fins to keep them flying straight. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fin/#x5)
- The surfboard has three fins underneath. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fin/#x6)
- The fish used its tail fin to turn quickly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fin/#x7)

### note

Countable: a fin, fins. «Fin» (fish part) and «Finn» (a person from Finland) sound the same. Divers usually call flippers «fins».

### In the corpora

- [Remoras stick to sharks and rays with a sucker on their heads, and that sucker is really a changed fin.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/174-reef-giants-and-wanderers-whale-sharks-mantas-dugongs-and-sea-turtles/15/)
- [Dumbo octopuses have fins that look like elephant ears, and they live deeper than any other known octopus, at nearly seven kilometres.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/176-the-deep-dark-anglerfish-giant-squid-blobfish-and-whale-falls/8/)
- [A grey porpoise with a smiling face and no back fin still lives there.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/379-china-s-great-rivers-the-finless-porpoise-the-lost-baiji-chinese-alligators-and-sturgeon/2/)
- [In France the weekend is le week-end, with a hyphen; in Quebec people often say la fin de semaine.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/10-days-of-the-week-and-months/16/)
- [Fish breathe with gills and most have fins and scales.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/24-animal-groups/9/)

### Trees and pragmatics

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