ichthyosaur

[ ik-thee-uh-sawr ]

noun
  1. any fishlike marine reptile of the extinct order Ichthyosauria, ranging from 4 to 40 feet (1.2 to 12 meters) in length and having a round, tapering body, a large head, four paddlelike flippers, and a vertical caudal fin.

Origin of ichthyosaur

1
First recorded in 1820–30; see origin at ichthyosaurus

Other words from ichthyosaur

  • ich·thy·o·sau·ri·an, adjective, noun
  • ich·thy·o·sau·roid, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ichthyosaur in a sentence

  • Like whales and seals, the ichthyosaurs were descended from land vertebrates which had become adapted to a marine habitat.

    The Elements of Geology | William Harmon Norton
  • They were something like the ichthyosaurs, but with smaller heads and much longer, more slender, serpentlike bodies.

    Geology | William J. Miller
  • They were eight or nine feet long, and in every other respect resembled Ichthyosaurs.

    Extinct Monsters | H. N. Hutchinson
  • Cordylomorpha are Ichthyosaurs and the Labyrinthodont group.

    Dragons of the Air | H. G. Seeley

British Dictionary definitions for ichthyosaur

ichthyosaur

ichthyosaurus (ˌɪkθɪəˈsɔːrəs)

/ (ˈɪkθɪəˌsɔː) /


nounplural -saurs, -sauruses or -sauri (-ˈsɔːraɪ)
  1. any extinct marine Mesozoic reptile of the order Ichthyosauria, which had a porpoise-like body with dorsal and tail fins and paddle-like limbs: See also plesiosaur

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for ichthyosaur

ichthyosaur

[ ĭkthē-ə-sôr′ ]


  1. Any of various extinct sea reptiles of the genus Ichthyosaurus and related genera, that had a medium-sized to large dolphin-like body with a dorsal fin, four flippers, and a large, crescent-shaped tail. The head had a long beak with sharp teeth, large eyes and earbones, and nostrils near the eyes on top of the skull. Ichthyosaurs were most common and diverse in the Triassic and Jurassic Periods and died out well before the end of the Cretaceous.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.