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# tern

«tern» in Mova's school dictionary: **a seabird like a small, slim gull, with long pointed…** — 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 tern, terns)

### meaning for a pupil

A tern is a seabird like a small, slim gull, with long pointed wings, a forked tail and often a black cap, which dives into water to catch fish. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tern/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

In science and nature lessons the Arctic tern is famous: it migrates from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back every year, the longest migration of any animal, so it sees more daylight than any other creature. Terns nest on beaches and islands, and walkers must keep away from their nests. Pupils use the tern to learn about migration.

### examples

- A tern dived into the sea and caught a fish. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tern/#x1)
- Arctic terns fly from pole to pole every year. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tern/#x2)
- Terns nest on the shingle beach. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tern/#x3)
- The tern has a black cap and a red beak. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tern/#x4)
- Keep away from the tern colony in nesting season. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tern/#x5)
- We watched terns hovering over the waves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tern/#x6)
- The tern's tail is forked like a swallow's. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tern/#x7)

### note

Plural: terns. Homophone: «turn». Do not confuse with «term».

### In the corpora

- [The Arctic tern makes one of the longest migrations, flying from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back every year.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/28-migration-and-hibernation/8/)

### Trees and pragmatics

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