dinosaur

American  

[dahy-nuh-sawr] / ˈdaɪ nəˌsɔr /

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.

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 a person or thing that is considered to be out of date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

• dinosaurian adjective

Etymology

Origin of dinosaur

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

Example Sentences

At just about half a meter long, Foskeia ranks among the smallest known ornithopod dinosaurs.

From Science Daily

They relied on software commonly used to analyze modern ecosystems to map all possible feeding connections among dinosaurs, other animals, and plants.

From Science Daily

Some tracks may belong to meat eating predators, others to plant eating dinosaurs, and some have even raised questions about whether early bird species were involved.

From Science Daily

Let me clarify that this is not some “dinosaur rails against extinction-level comet collision” rant.

From Salon

A deep-water fish called coelacanth similarly survived the mass extinction that wiped out all the dinosaurs that did not evolve into birds, he pointed out.

From Barron's

Related Words

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• out-of-date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