fur seal

noun

: any of various eared seals that have a double coat with a dense soft underfur and were hunted especially formerly for their desirable pelts:
a
: a large seal (Callorhinus ursinus) of the northern Pacific Ocean having its main breeding rookery on Pribilof Island in the Bering Sea

called also northern fur seal

b
: any of a genus (Arctocephalus) of seals chiefly of the southern hemisphere

called also southern fur seal

Illustration of fur seal

Illustration of fur seal

Examples of fur seal in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
After the sharks left their hangouts, populations of cape fur seal and sevengill sharks climbed. — Evan Bush, NBC news, 3 Nov. 2025 In Argentina, roughly 1,300 sea lions and fur seals perished. — Susanne Rust follow, Los Angeles Times, 12 Mar. 2026 Discover the remains of hundreds of ancient shipwrecks and observe lions, hyenas, and fur seals in the wild along Namibia’s intriguing Skeleton Coast. — Melanie Van Zyl, Travel + Leisure, 6 Mar. 2026 Kit Kovacs, who worked on the Antarctic fur seal assessment, told CNN that as surface water temperatures close to Antarctica increase, krill is going farther offshore and into deeper waters to get to colder areas. — Andrew Freedman, CNN Money, 9 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for fur seal

Word History

First Known Use

1775, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of fur seal was in 1775

Rhymes for fur seal

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Browse Nearby Words

furry dance
fur seal
fursona
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Cite this Entry

“Fur seal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fur%20seal. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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Kids Definition

fur seal

noun
: any of various eared seals with a dense soft undercoat

More from Merriam-Webster on fur seal

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about fur seal

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