dinosaur

American  

[dahy-nuh-sawr] / ˈdaɪ nəˌsɔr /

noun

• dinosaurs
  plural

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.

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dinosaur British  

/ ˈdaɪnəˌsɔː /

noun

1. 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 a person or thing that is considered to be out of date

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• dinosaurian
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• dinosaurs
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of dinosaur

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

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Explanation

If you've ever seen Jurassic Park, you know that dinosaurs were large reptilian creatures that walked the earth during the Mesozoic era that ran from 245 million to 68 million years ago and included the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. The ancient Greeks had no knowledge of dinosaurs that we know of, but they unknowingly contributed to the word dinosaur. It was cobbled together in 1841 by British scientist Sir Richard Own, using the words deinos, meaning "terrible" and sauros meaning "lizard." All are gone—at least in their original form, although it is thought they simply evolved into other, present-day animals. The word dinosaur is often used for someone who is old-fashioned or unable to adapt to modern times.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dinosaur dinosaurs

Scientists have discovered remarkably preserved traces of dinosaur blood inside 115-million-year-old bones, revealing that delicate biological molecules can survive far longer than previously believed.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2026

Why are rich people obsessed with owning dinosaur bones?

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026

"I brought back Ali G because he is a problematic dinosaur," he said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026

A new species of dinosaur - a long-clawed predator the size of a large tiger - has been identified from a fossil found on the Isle of Wight more than 100 years ago.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

We saw the dinosaur climbing up the side of the building.

From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon

The youth-led protests earlier in the day took place in a mostly peaceful and festive atmosphere, with some dressed in outfits ranging from dinosaurs to Batman as the demonstrations coincided with Halloween.

From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026

The discovery offers a possible explanation for how a group of animals that appeared around the same time as dinosaurs managed to endure two of Earth's five major mass extinctions.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026

Their paper ended decades of debate over whether the dinosaurs were distinct from one another.

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026

"I'm always happy to see a gannet. They are big and so powerful. They're like dinosaurs."

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026

This was actually used as evidence to support the notion that the extinction of dinosaurs was swift and emphatic–and so it was in geological terms.

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

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Related Words

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

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