edentate

American  

[ee-den-tayt] / iˈdɛn teɪt /

adjective

1. belonging or pertaining to the Edentata, an order of New World mammals characterized by the absence of incisors and canines in the arrangement of teeth and comprising the armadillos, the sloths, and the South American anteaters.

2. toothless.

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noun

1. an edentate mammal.

edentate British  

/ iːˈdɛnteɪt /

noun

1. any of the placental mammals that constitute the order Edentata, which inhabit tropical regions of Central and South America. The order includes anteaters, sloths, and armadillos

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or belonging to the order Edentata

edentate Scientific  

/ ē-dĕn′tāt′ /

1. Lacking teeth.

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1. Any of various mammals belonging to the order Xenarthra (or Edentata), having no front teeth and few or no back teeth. The lumbar vertebrae have extra joints, which add support during digging. Sloths, armadillos, and anteaters are edentates.

Etymology

Origin of edentate

First recorded in 1820–30; from Latin ēdentātus, past participle of ēdentāre “to knock the teeth out”; equivalent to ē- variant of ex- “out of” + dent- (stem of dēns ) “tooth” + -ātus past participle ending of first conjugation verbs; see origin at e- ¹, tooth, -ate ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

edentate

An edentate mammal, of the genus Orycteropus, somewhat resembling a pig, common in some parts of Southern Africa.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Noah Webster

Ant-eaters, a family of edentate mammals, have a tubular mouth with a small aperture, and a long tongue covered with a viscid secretion, which they thrust into the ant-hills and then withdraw covered with ants.

From The Nuttall Encyclopædia Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge by P. Austin Nuttall

To lose one’s spoon would be almost as serious as it is for an edentate person to lose his set of false teeth.”

From South: the story of Shackleton's 1914-1917 expedition by Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton

They are however without teeth only in the front of the jaw in all, but with a few molars in some, the Indian forms however are truly edentate, having no teeth at all.

From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Robert Armitage Sterndale

A parallel case is, perhaps, to be found in the hairy armadillo, an extremely versatile and intelligent animal, although only an edentate.

From The Naturalist in La Plata by W. H. (William Henry) Hudson

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