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# orca

noun (an orca, orcas)

«orca» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. An orca, also called a killer whale, is a large black-and-white sea mammal with a tall back fin; it is actually the biggest member of the dolphin family. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/orca/#m1)
2. Orcas live and hunt in family groups called pods in all the world's oceans, especially cold ones. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/orca/#m2)

### In the lessons

In science lessons orcas come up in ocean food chains (top predator — they eat fish, seals, penguins and even whales), mammals (they breathe air through a blowhole and feed their young milk) and communication: each pod has its own calls, like a family language. In conservation lessons, pupils learn about pollution and noise in the sea and debates about keeping orcas in marine parks.

### Examples

- The orca is the largest kind of dolphin. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/orca/#x1)
- Orcas hunt together in pods. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/orca/#x2)
- An orca breathes through a blowhole on its head. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/orca/#x3)
- We saw an orca's tall black fin from the boat. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/orca/#x4)
- Orcas sometimes slide onto beaches to catch seals. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/orca/#x5)
- Each orca pod has its own calls. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/orca/#x6)
- Another name for the orca is the killer whale. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/orca/#x7)

### Note

Plural «orcas»; «an orca». Trap: despite the name «killer whale», an orca is a dolphin, and wild orcas are not known to have killed people. Orcas are mammals, not fish.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «orca» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/orca/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«orca» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/orca.html) on Mova free.