dinosaur

[ dahy-nuh-sawr ]

noun

1. any chiefly terrestrial, herbivorous or carnivorous reptile of the extinct orders Saurischia and Ornithischia, from the Mesozoic Era, certain species of which are the largest known land animals.
2. something that is unwieldy in size, anachronistically outmoded, or unable to adapt to change:

   The old steel mill was a dinosaur that cost the company millions to operate.

dinosaur

/ ˈdaɪnəˌsɔː /

noun

1. See plesiosaur, pterosaur, ornithischian, saurischian
   any extinct terrestrial reptile of the orders Saurischia and Ornithischia, many of which were of gigantic size and abundant in the Mesozoic era See also saurischian ornithischian Compare pterosaur plesiosaur
2. a person or thing that is considered to be out of date

Derived Forms

• ˌdinoˈsaurian, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of dinosaur¹

< New Latin Dinosaurus (1841), originally a genus name. See dino-, -saur

Word History and Origins

Origin of dinosaur¹

C19: from New Latin dinosaurus, from Greek deinos fearful + sauros lizard

Example Sentences

Science News, January 30, 1971Through the years paleontologists have evolved a picture of the appearance and habits of various dinosaurs….

From Science News

This is dinosaur country, where ancient oceans left sculpted bluffs and exposed fossils.

From Washington Post

We’re only talking about one set of fossilized dinosaur privates, which limits the scope of any mate signalling takeaways, the study explains.

From Popular-Science

Walmart is now valued at more than $400 billion and has shed much of its reputation as a digital dinosaur in the business world.

From Vox

The super-efficient lungs of many dinosaurs could deliver oxygen to every part of their massive bodies.

From Nautilus

Unlike figure skating, where Russia's Evgeni Plushenko is considered a dinosaur at 31, the age of Olympic curlers is more varied.

From The Daily Beast

I had the idea to write about her when I was at a small dinosaur museum in Dorset.

From The Daily Beast

In 1993, adults and kids alike were dressing as Barney the Dinosaur.

From The Daily Beast

The 68-million-year-old remnants of dinosaur feet were pushed upward by tectonic activity.

From The Daily Beast

The people behind a prank TV show tricked a man into thinking he was being chased by a dinosaur.

From The Daily Beast

Slowly, as though it had seen all it wanted to, the dinosaur turned and went back into the swamp.

From Project Gutenberg

Few of these fossil Dinosaur skulls are available for comparison, and those differ among themselves.

From Project Gutenberg

Before he could pick himself up the Dinosaur had swung about and buried all three horns, to the sockets, in his throat and chest.

From Project Gutenberg

The advantage of bulk lay altogether with the Dinosaur, the three-horned King of all the Lizard kind.

From Project Gutenberg

The female Dinosaur, the more instantly malignant of the two, hurled herself upon the trunk of the tree.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• antiquated
• archaic
• out-of-date
• outmoded