dinosaur
/ˈdaɪnəsoɹ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.77 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Those animals of the clade Dinosauria that existed during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and are now extinct.
noun
Any of the animals belonging to the clade Dinosauria, including its sole surviving lineage: Neornithes.
noun
Any extinct reptile, not necessarily belonging to Dinosauria, that existed between about 230 million and 65 million years ago, as well as the stem-mammal Dimetrodon.
Informal
noun
Someone or something that is very old or old-fashioned, especially someone who is not willing to change and adapt.
Colloquial
Example Sentences
- "Despite what some cartoons portray, no humans were around when dinosaurs roamed the Earth."
- "Many people love their backyard birds, but some of us may not realize that those feathery friends are also literally dinosaurs, in a biologically accurate sense of that word."
- "Pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, icthyosaurs — I don't know, they're all dinosaurs to me!"
- ""Not a bird, my dear Roxton - not a bird." "A beast?" "No; a reptile - a dinosaur.""
- "‘Dinosaur!’ Denham exploded. ‘By the Power! A dinosaur!’"
- "She may be a tough old bird, but it's a mistake to write her off as a dinosaur; you do so at your own risk."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek δεινός (deinós, “terrible, awesome, mighty, fearfully great”) + σαῦρος (saûros, “lizard, reptile”). Coined as Dinosaur(s) and Dinosauria by paleontologist Richard Owen in 1841/1842.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: δεινός
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈdaɪnəsoɹ/
- British English: /ˈdaɪnəsɔː(ɹ)/