How to Use tortoise in a Sentence

tortoise

noun
  • The tortoise has caught and passed the hare.
    — Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
  • Knock knock, says the tortoise, and it shall be opened.
    — Sean Williams, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
  • Each pair is available in tortoise, gray and black.
    — Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 3 Nov. 2025
  • Dad will be the coolest guy at the beach with these tortoise shell sunnies.
    — Hannah Oh, Seventeen, 7 Nov. 2022
  • But the hare couldn’t stick the landing, and the tortoise reigned supreme.
    — Jackie Appel, Popular Mechanics, 23 Aug. 2023
  • My career has been very much like the tortoise, slow and steady wins the race.
    — Mike Ryan, IndieWire, 12 Sep. 2025
  • The mighty tortoise, its feet dangling, didn't seem to mind much.
    — Alina Hartounian, NPR, 18 May 2026
  • Caring for a tortoise is not quite the same as doing so for a cat.
    — Ron Estes, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Mar. 2025
  • The tortoise has free roam of the entire store during the day.
    — Lisa Maria Garza, OrlandoSentinel.com, 10 June 2018
  • If that’s not enough, book a trip to the on-site farm which also has a tortoise zone.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Apr. 2026
  • Kids could ride on the tortoises and buy peanuts for the monkeys.
    — Roger Showley, sandiegouniontribune.com, 12 Jan. 2018
  • The first few days the two male tortoises kept to themselves.
    — Suzanne Baker, Naperville Sun, 14 June 2018
  • Xavier wants to be the hare, Iowa State wants to be the tortoise.
    — J. Brady McCollough, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2023
  • Think of this like the classic folk story about the tortoise and the hare.
    — Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 11 Jan. 2021
  • The tortoise was placed on a three-day stray hold at Cara’s House.
    — Maxime Tamsett, CNN, 2 Sep. 2023
  • The design stays true to the classics and comes in glassy black or tortoise shell.
    — Brad Lanphear, Men's Health, 13 July 2023
  • Gotta get all scrubbed and shined up for the week, like this very satisfied tortoise.
    — Aj Willingham, CNN, 29 Mar. 2021
  • There’s a quote somewhere about the passage of time, maybe said by a wise tortoise.
    — Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 9 Mar. 2024
  • The tortoise shell shades were classy and his hair was wrapped in a loose bun that served as the crown fit for a king.
    — Victoria Hernandez, USA TODAY, 20 Sep. 2022
  • Most props that promise to lunge and jump end up moving with the spunk of a tortoise in a race.
    — Matthew Kronsberg, WSJ, 20 Oct. 2021
  • Planning is for those who want to be left behind, the tortoise gets run roughshod by the hare.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 19 Dec. 2025
  • In one scene, Hart and Wahlberg are tasked to give mouth-to-mouth to a tortoise.
    — Amy Nicholson, Variety, 25 Aug. 2022
  • The tortoise was tired, hungry and caked in mud, but seems to be in good health after his odyssey.
    — David Williams, CNN, 22 Aug. 2020
  • Investing often feels like the old tale of the tortoise and the hare.
    — Chris Taylor, wsj.com, 7 Nov. 2023
  • The tortoise has a heavier shell than the turtle and has short sturdy legs.
    — Cheryl Conley, Houston Chronicle, 30 Jan. 2018
  • Surrounded by the city, the tortoise cannot move to a new habitat on its own.
    — Yan Zhuang, New York Times, 12 Dec. 2022
  • As the weather warms up, turtles and tortoises are on the move.
    — Melissa Breyer, Treehugger, 23 June 2023
  • There was just nowhere to go and no safe way to transport a 150-pound tortoise.
    — Ilana Keller, USA TODAY, 31 Aug. 2020
  • When Vamstad saw the tortoise, the park had only been closed for two months.
    — NBC News, 16 May 2020
  • Walk the trails, look for birds and tortoises, and admire native plants and trees.
    — Lisa Cericola, Southern Living, 27 Dec. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tortoise.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: