rodent

[ rohd-nt ]
See synonyms for rodent on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. belonging or pertaining to the gnawing or nibbling mammals of the order Rodentia, including the mice, squirrels, beavers, etc.

noun
  1. a rodent mammal.

Origin of rodent

1
1825–35; <New Latin RodentiaRodentia

Other words from rodent

  • ro·dent·like, adjective

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

How to use rodent in a sentence

  • The only example among vertebrates is that of the beavers, members of the low order of rodents.

    Man And His Ancestor | Charles Morris
  • Bow traps are placed along the tracks of civets, ichneumons, and rodents, which snap and strangle them.

    Man And His Ancestor | Charles Morris
  • He could not understand the reason for such wholesale extermination, since certainly the rabbitlike rodents were harmless.

    Star Born | Andre Norton
  • Yamba told me that there would have been no help for us had we been overtaken on foot by these migratory rodents.

  • Man will then find himself in his proper and rather indistinct place in the crowd, beside the monkeys, rodents and bats.

British Dictionary definitions for rodent

rodent

/ (ˈrəʊdənt) /


noun
    • any of the relatively small placental mammals that constitute the order Rodentia, having constantly growing incisor teeth specialized for gnawing. The group includes porcupines, rats, mice, squirrels, marmots, etc

    • (as modifier): rodent characteristics

Origin of rodent

1
C19: from Latin rōdere to gnaw, corrode

Derived forms of rodent

  • rodent-like, adjective

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 rodent

rodent

[ rōdnt ]


  1. Any of various very numerous, mostly small mammals of the order Rodentia, having large front teeth used for gnawing. The teeth grow throughout the animal's life, and are kept from getting too long by gnawing. Rodents make up about half the living species of mammals, and include rats, mice, beavers, squirrels, lemmings, shrews, and hamsters.

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