sardine
Syllables: sard·ine/sɑːˈdiːn/US/sɑɹˈdin/
sardine noun: any one of several species of small herring which are commonly preserved in olive oil or in tins for food, especially the European sardine (Sardina pilchardus, syn. Clupea pilchardus). The American sardines of the Atlantic coast are mostly the young of the Atlantic herring and of the menhaden, and many canned sardines in America are sprats.
Noun (1)
sardine (plural sardines)
- Any one of several species of small herring which are commonly preserved in olive oil or in tins for food, especially the European sardine (Sardina pilchardus, syn. Clupea pilchardus). The American sardines of the Atlantic coast are mostly the young of the Atlantic herring and of the menhaden, and many canned sardines in America are sprats.
- Near-synonym: pilchard (broad sense)
- They feasted on premium sardines packed in olive oil, as did their hunting dogs, who insisted on joining the meal.
- Synonyms:
- pilchard
- Someone packed or crammed into a small space.
- They watched bemused as countless sardines disgorged from a railway car that was never designed to hold so many passengers.
Verb
sardine (third-person singular simple present sardines, present participle sardining, simple past and past participle sardined)
- To fish for sardines.
- No one on Monhegan says they saw them, but a man sardining says he saw it headed there, or at least some boat with people atop it.1997, Peter Landesman, The raven: a novel
- to pack or cram together tightly.
- Six-foot- four McMichael (a past master at the art of sardining) not only crammed enough clothes for the trip into the mighty midget, but carried a full set of golf clubs and a banjo, as well!1954, Tom McCahill, The modern sports car
- Would it be unbearably elitist to suggest that they would be more enjoyable still if the director removed a row or two of chairs, instead of sardining as many listeners as possible into the intimate music room?1986, The New Yorker - Volumen 62
Noun (2)
sardine (plural sardines)
Adjective
sardine (comparative more sardine, superlative most sardine)
- Characteristic of a sardius.
- And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 4:3
Noun (3) capitalized: Sardine
Sardine (plural Sardines)
- A member of the Italian grassroots political movement organized to protest against the right-wing surge in the country and the political rhetoric of Matteo Salvini.
- A new grassroots movement called ‘sardines’ is fighting against Italy's rightwing strongman Matteo Salvini across the nation after a spectacular launch in Bologna last week.2019 November 20, “‘Sardines’ fight Salvini across Italy”, in ANSAmed, archived from the original on 21 Nov 2019
- But they might need more than prayer to effectively compete with the Sardines, who in the last month have packed themselves tightly in ever-increasing numbers into piazzas in city after Italian city.2019 December 13, Angela Giuffrida, “Sardines squeeze into Italian cities for biggest anti-Salvini protests yet”, in The Guardian
sardine meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
sardine in Hindi
- fish
- सार्डीन sārḍīn
sardine in Tamil
- fish
- ஸார்டீன் sārṭīṉ
sardine in Urdu
- fish
- سارڈین sārḍīn
sardine in Bengali
- fish
- সার্ডীন śarḍin
More languagesFewer languages
- sardine in Telugu
- సార్డీన్ sārḍīn
- sardine in Malayalam
- ചാള cāḷa, മത്തി matti
- sardine in Kannada
- ಸಾರ್ಡೀನ್ sārḍīn
- sardine in Gujarati
- સાર્ડીન sārḍīn
- sardine in Sinhala
- සාර්ඩීන් sārḍīn
- sardine in Tagalog
- sardinas
- sardine in Arabic
- صَحْنَاة ṣaḥnāh, صِحْنَاة ṣiḥnāh, سَرْدِين sardīn
- sardine in Malay
- sardin
- sardine in Indonesian
- sarden
- sardine in Vietnamese
- cá mòi
Examples of sardine in a sentence
- The fish factory cans the sardines and mackerel.
- I'm pretty claustrophobic, so I didn't wanna hop in the elevator with them all packed like sardines in there.
- Passengers are no longer "willing to be packed into trains like sardines", says London TravelWatch.
Synonyms of sardine
Forms of sardine
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | sardines |
| plural | Sardines |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | sardines |
| present participle | sardining |
| past participle | sardined |
| past | sardined |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more sardine |
| superlative | most sardine |
Origin of sardine
Borrowed from French sardine (cognate with Spanish sardina, Italian sardina), Latin sardīna; from Ancient Greek σαρδίνη (sardínē).
Pliny states that its name was ultimately derived from Sardis, in Lydia, where the sard was first discovered; but probably ultimately derived from Persian sered ("yellowish-red").
From the way protesters are tightly packed into public spaces, analogous to the way sardines are packed into cans.
Words formed from sardine
- bombon sardine
- California sardine
- Chilean sardine
- freshwater sardine
- gilt sardine
- Indian oil sardine
- Lake Malawi sardine
- Lake Tanganyika sardine
- Madeiran sardine
- Marguesan sardine
- oil sardine
- orangespot sardine
- Pacific sardine
- packed like sardines
- rainbox sardine
- red-ear sardine
- river sardine
- sardine cisco
- sardinelike
- sardinella
- sardiner
- sardinewise
- sardiney
- scaled sardine
- smoothbelly sardine
- Spanish sardine
- true sardine
- white sardine
Words that rhyme with sardine
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- glean
- between
- byzantine
- canteen
- greene
- preen
- Racine
- careen
- intervene
- lean
- wean
- Christine
- obscene
- routine
- skene
- spleen
- submarine
- cuisine
- gasoline
- irene
- red bean
- serene
- -ene
- baleen
- demean
- eleventeen
- fascine
- gombeen
- latrine
- pristine
- Qazvin
- sheen
- tangerine
- unclean
- unseen
- vaccine
- amine
- aquamarine
- Beane
- beseen
- bottine
- chopine
- Enigma machine
- Eugene
- gene
- in between
- internecine
- jean
Questions about sardine
- What does sardine mean?
- Sardine means any one of several species of small herring which are commonly preserved in olive oil or in tins for food, especially the European sardine (Sardina pilchardus, syn. Clupea pilchardus). The American sardines of the Atlantic coast are mostly the young of the Atlantic herring and of the menhaden, and many canned sardines in America are sprats.
- What is sardine in Hindi?
- Sardine in Hindi is सार्डीन (sārḍīn). See Sardine meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is sardine?
- Sardine can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce sardine?
- Sardine is pronounced /sɑːˈdiːn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of sardine?
- The plural of sardine is sardines.
Words near sardine in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sardine (page history and authors); Sardine (page history and authors); ചാള (Malayalam) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sardine.wav.
Cite this entry: “sardine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sardine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.