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# shoal

«shoal» in Mova's school dictionary: **a large group of fish swimming together** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a shoal, shoals); adjective/verb (shoal, shoals, shoaled, shoaling — rare)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A shoal is a large group of fish swimming together. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoal/#m1)

2) A shoal is also a shallow place in a sea or river, often a sandbank, that can be dangerous for boats. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoal/#m2)

3) (informal, UK) A shoal of things is a large number of them: shoals of letters. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoal/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons, fish swim in shoals for safety: it is harder for a predator to pick out one fish, and many eyes spot danger. Herring, sardines and mackerel form shoals. In geography and history, ships ran aground on shoals near coasts; lighthouses warn of them. Phrases: «a shoal of fish», «swim in shoals», «run aground on a shoal».

### examples

- A shoal of silver fish flashed past the boat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoal/#x1)
- Fish swim in shoals to stay safe from sharks. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoal/#x2)
- The dolphins herded the shoal of sardines into a ball. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoal/#x3)
- The ship ran aground on a hidden shoal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoal/#x4)
- Shoals of mackerel came close to the shore. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoal/#x5)
- The lighthouse warns sailors about the shoals. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoal/#x6)
- Men can’t come down the cliffs, even if there were any men; and the shoals to seaward would knock a ship to splinters. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoal/#x7)

### note

A «school» of fish means almost the same; scientists sometimes say a shoal is a loose group and a school moves together. Collective nouns: a shoal of fish, a flock of birds, a herd of cows.

### In the corpora

- [Piranhas have razor-sharp teeth and tear at dead or injured fish, but most are timid scavengers that shoal for safety.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/155-the-amazon-river/9/)

### Trees and pragmatics

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