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belemnite

American

[bel-uhm-nahyt] / ˈbɛl əmˌnaɪt /

noun

Paleontology.

a conical fossil, several inches long, consisting of the internal calcareous rod of an extinct animal allied to the cuttlefish; a thunderstone.

belemnite British

/ ˈbɛləmˌnaɪt /

noun

any extinct marine cephalopod mollusc of the order Belemnoidea , related to the cuttlefish
the long pointed conical internal shell of any of these animals: a common Mesozoic fossil

"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

belemnite Scientific

/ bĕl′əm-nīt′ /

Any of various extinct cephalopod mollusks of the order Belemnoidea that lived from the Triassic into the Tertiary Period. Belemnites had a large, cone-shaped internal shell with a complex structure that served as a support for muscles and as a hydrostatic device. Belemnites were closely related to the present-day squids and cuttlefishes.
The fossilized internal shell of one of these cephalopods. Belemnites are used as index fossils.

Etymology

Origin of belemnite

1640–50; < French bélemnite, equivalent to Greek bélemn ( on ) a dart (noun derivative from base of bállein to throw) + French -ite -ite ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

belemnite

Wahl assembled an international team to investigate the fossils, bringing in specialists including belemnite expert Alexey Ippolitov, a PhD student now based at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 20, 2026

What makes this species particularly remarkable is its unusually thick, barrel-shaped internal skeleton, earning it the distinction of being the "chunkiest" or "fattest" belemnite ever identified.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 20, 2026

These detailed scans revealed an unexpected connection to an ancient belemnite family that scientists had believed disappeared millions of years before this animal lived.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 20, 2026

While examining fossils, Pohl noticed a belemnite that was considerably larger than any he had previously encountered.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 20, 2026

The belemnite, it turned out, had been discovered four years earlier by an amateur naturalist named Chaning Pearce, and the discovery had been fully reported at a meeting of the Geological Society.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023