Definition

Adjective: - Having tusks: Describes an animal that possesses tusks, which are long, pointed, protruding teeth, typically used for digging, defense, or display.

Usage

The adjective "tusked" is used attributively (before a noun) or predicatively (after a linking verb) to describe animals that have tusks. It is a specific descriptive term often found in zoological, natural history, or literary contexts.

Examples

• Attributive use (before a noun):
  • The tusked walrus hauled itself onto the ice.
  • They encountered a herd of tusked boars in the forest.
• Predicative use (after a linking verb):
  • The mammoth, preserved in ice, was clearly tusked.
  • Many animals in the elephant family are tusked.

Advanced Usage

• Descriptive Compound: While "tusked" itself is a single adjective, it can be part of descriptive phrases to specify the type or appearance of the tusks.
  • a long-tusked elephant
  • a fiercely tusked wild boar

Variants and Related Words

• Tusk (noun): The long, pointed tooth itself.
  • The elephant's tusk is made of ivory.
• Tusky (adjective): An archaic or less common variant with the same meaning as "tusked."
• Tuskless (adjective): The opposite, meaning lacking tusks.
  • Some elephant populations are becoming tuskless due to poaching.

Synonyms

• Ivory-bearing: (Specifically for elephants, walruses, etc., whose tusks are made of ivory.)
• Fanged: (This is a near-synonym but typically refers to long, sharp canine teeth, as in snakes or carnivores, rather than the specialized incisors or canine teeth described as tusks.)

Related Phrases

• Tusked whale: A common name for the narwhal, a whale species where the male has a long, spiral tusk.
  • The tusked whale, or narwhal, is sometimes called the 'unicorn of the sea'.

Adjective

1. having tusks