The Collaborative International Dictionary
Plankton \Plank"ton\ (pl[a^][ng]k"t[o^]n), n. [NL., fr. Gr. plagto`n, neut. of plagto`s wandering, pla`zesqai to wander.] (Biol.) All the animals and plants, taken collectively, which live at or near the surface of salt or fresh waters. -- Plank*ton"ic, a.
Wiktionary
a. 1 Of or pertaining to plankton. 2 float in the open sea rather than living on the seafloor.
WordNet
adj. of or relating to plankton
Usage examples of "planktonic".
The planktonic snow had all but disappeared, and the clarity of the icy water was more than he imagined.
The muck, which she knew was a combination of planktonic carcasses and feces of innumerable worms, dripped from her fingers.
It was strewn with silvery fronds, tentacles that contained the stinging cells with which it would paralyze its planktonic food.
Any movement in tropical waters caused flashes of luminescent light from small planktonic creatures in the water.
During periods of high winds and quasi-waterspout activity, the wormlike planktonic marine organism Xenohydrobdella praecipitans, in Irish called cruimh fearthain, one to two centimeters in length and colored blood-red or brown, is sucked into the air from the surface of the sea and subsequently falls again with the rain.
It flashed blindingly for an instant like a shaft of lightning, reflecting millions of planktonic creatures that hung in the water.
No spray or mint could mask his breath, which smelled now of kelp, now of sargassum, and at its worst, of a weathered planktonic bloom.