the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
noun-plural. The class of the Cœlenterata which includes the corals and sea anemones. The three principal groups or orders are Acyonaria, Actinaria, and Madreporaria.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
The flower-animals, or animal-flowers; a former class or large group of zoöphytes, inexactly equivalent to the modern class Actinozoa (which see).
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. a large class of sedentary marine coelenterates that includes sea anemones and corals; the medusoid phase is entirely suppressed
Word Usage
""Precisely, my dear; only the anthozoa can't talk!""