Devonian
Americanadjective
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Geology. noting or pertaining to a period of the Paleozoic Era, 405 to 345 million years ago, characterized by the dominance of fishes and the advent of amphibians and ammonites.
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of or relating to Devonshire, England.
noun
adjective
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of, denoting, or formed in the fourth period of the Palaeozoic era, between the Silurian and Carboniferous periods, lasting 60-70 million years during which amphibians first appeared
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of or relating to Devon
noun
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The fourth period of the Paleozoic Era, from about 408 to 360 million years ago. During this time there were three major landmasses: most of modern day North America and Europe were located along the equator; a portion of Siberia was located to the north; and a continent consisting of South America, Australia, Africa, India, and Antarctica was located in the Southern Hemisphere. In the early Devonian small plants dominated the landscape, but by the end of the Devonian ferns and seed plants had appeared, as had the first forests. The first tetrapods (terrestrial vertebrates) and terrestrial arthropods appeared, as did many new types of fish.
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See Chart at geologic time
Other Word Forms
- post-Devonian adjective
Etymology
Origin of Devonian
1605–15; < Medieval Latin Devoni ( a ) Devon + -an
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.
"It was a time when the group was just starting to develop the distinctive feeding adaptations that would serve them for the remainder of the Devonian and onwards to the present day."
From Science Daily • Mar. 12, 2026
The tea plants in lunar soil flourished, performing on par with those in Devonian soil, while the Mars saplings failed to grow.
From Salon • Sep. 29, 2025
The lunar and Martian samples were compared against a control group grown in Devonian soil, an ancient, clay-rich type from Devon, England.
From Salon • Sep. 29, 2025
Their aim was to answer questions about feeding in early vertebrates without jaws in the early Devonian epoch -- sometimes called the Age of Fishes -- around 400 million years ago.
From Science Daily • Apr. 10, 2024
Devonian is of course from the English county of Devon.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
