mammalian

[muh-mey-lee-uhn, -meyl-yuhn]

noun

1. an animal of the class Mammalia; mammal.

adjective

1. belonging or pertaining to the class Mammalia; characteristic of mammals.

Other Word Forms

• mammality noun
• nonmammalian noun
• unmammalian adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of mammalian¹

1825–35; < New Latin Mammali ( a ) ( mammal ) + -an

Example Sentences

Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a more precise and efficient gene-editing approach that can correct several disease-causing mutations at once in mammalian cells.

Read more on Science Daily

The average mammalian species, not to mention the average primate species, lasts about one million to three million years, and most didn’t need an Armageddon-scale trauma to usher them out of the fossil record.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

New Zealand’s native animals, including flightless birds like the kiwi, evolved without ground-dwelling mammalian predators.

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Each human and mammalian infection gives the virus an opportunity to mutate and evolve better ways of transmitting from person to person — a key benchmark for what makes a pathogen a pandemic-level threat.

Read more on Salon

Instead, they reveal mammalian brains to be the product of millions of years of evolution and adaptation to environments.

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Related Words

• bodily 
• natural