launce

L1A1U1N1C3E1
/lɑːns//lɔːns/

noun

sand eel, sand lance, fish of the family Ammodytidae

Similar
sand lancesand launcesand eel
OriginItalian lance ← Latin lanx →
Scrabble 8
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Meanings

launce1

nounlaunce (plural launces)

plural launces

  1. obsoleteObsolete form of lance.
  2. sand eel, sand lance, fish of the family Ammodytidae
verblaunce (third-person singular simple present launces, present participle launcing, simple past and past participle launced)

present singular third person launces · participle present launcing · participle past launced · past launced

  1. obsoleteObsolete form of lance.

launce2

nounlaunce (plural launces)

plural launces

  1. obsoleteA balance.

    Fortune all in equall launce doth sway.

    1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 4

Synonyms & antonyms

nounvery small silvery eellike schooling fishes that burrow into sandy beaches

Similar
sand lancesand launcesand eel
Broader
spiny-finned fishacanthopterygian
Also see
lantsand eelsand lance

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

launce · noun, verb

See lance.

Full word history & related roots →

launce · noun

  1. Latinlanx
  2. Italianlance
  3. Englishlaunce

From Italian lance, Latin lanx, lancis (“plate, scale of a balance”); compare balance.

More words from Italian, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with launce

FrancedanceadvancechanceenhanceglanceentranceHanslancestanceVanceAfrikaansperchanceranceaskanceprancepsytranceavauncebechancejaunceséance
All rhymes →

Anagrams

Lucenacunealauncelaunclelacuneunlace
Cite this entry
APA

launce. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/launce

MLA

“launce.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/launce. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “launce,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/launce.

Source: launce on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.