sardine
noun
sar·dine sär-ˈdēn 
plural sardines also sardine
1
: any of several small or immature fishes of the herring family
especially : the European pilchard (Sardina pilchardus) especially when young and of a size suitable for preserving for food
2
: any of various small fishes (such as an anchovy) resembling the true sardines or similarly preserved for food
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web And it’s not a TikTok sardine-throwing challenge, as one San Franciscan assumes in a Reddit post from earlier this month. 
Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 29 June 2022 Their teeny hotel room, shared with five friends, was preposterously cramped, and Slate began to complain about the sardine-like conditions in a small, squeaky voice. Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 27 June 2022 Some early theories are that the birds are being hurt by overfishing in the Pacific Ocean, but rescue operators have been assured by state agencies that local sardine and anchovy populations are not scarce. Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times, 19 May 2022 Schrader draws them together by staging a right-wing hotel-expo encounter between Tell and his former overseer at Abu Ghraib, Major John Gordo, played by Willem Dafoe as a skeevy opportunist with a mustache like a giant sardine. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 2 Sep. 2021 François was hooked on aquatics after a childhood encounter with a sardine in a tide pool. BostonGlobe.com, 12 Aug. 2021 Who likes being trapped in a sardine can with hundreds of other passengers, lifted some 30,000 feet above sea level? Richard Galant, CNN, 8 Aug. 2021 Before the pandemic, New Yorkers wore the sacrifice of being packed like a sardine in a rush-hour train as a badge of honor. Stephanie Cain, Fortune, 8 May 2021 The idea is to tease the roosters into a feeding frenzy and then cast a sardine with a hook in its head into the carnage. Nate Matthews, Field & Stream, 7 Dec. 2020 See More
Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 29 June 2022 Their teeny hotel room, shared with five friends, was preposterously cramped, and Slate began to complain about the sardine-like conditions in a small, squeaky voice. Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 27 June 2022 Some early theories are that the birds are being hurt by overfishing in the Pacific Ocean, but rescue operators have been assured by state agencies that local sardine and anchovy populations are not scarce. Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times, 19 May 2022 Schrader draws them together by staging a right-wing hotel-expo encounter between Tell and his former overseer at Abu Ghraib, Major John Gordo, played by Willem Dafoe as a skeevy opportunist with a mustache like a giant sardine. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 2 Sep. 2021 François was hooked on aquatics after a childhood encounter with a sardine in a tide pool. BostonGlobe.com, 12 Aug. 2021 Who likes being trapped in a sardine can with hundreds of other passengers, lifted some 30,000 feet above sea level? Richard Galant, CNN, 8 Aug. 2021 Before the pandemic, New Yorkers wore the sacrifice of being packed like a sardine in a rush-hour train as a badge of honor. Stephanie Cain, Fortune, 8 May 2021 The idea is to tease the roosters into a feeding frenzy and then cast a sardine with a hook in its head into the carnage. Nate Matthews, Field & Stream, 7 Dec. 2020 See More Word History
Etymology
Middle English sardeine, from Anglo-French, from Latin sardina
First Known Use
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Kids Definition
sardine
noun
sar·dine sär-ˈdēn
: a young or very small fish often preserved in oil and used for food