edentate
belonging or pertaining to the Edentata, an order of New World mammals characterized by the absence of incisors and canines in the arrangement of teeth and comprising the armadillos, the sloths, and the South American anteaters.
an edentate mammal.
Origin of edentate
1Words Nearby edentate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use edentate in a sentence
No hylid genus is edentate, and none has either T-shaped terminal phalanges or the unusual dorsal spinules.
Armadillo, rm-a-dil′o, n. a small American edentate quadruped, having its body armed with bands of bony plates:—pl.
The Glyptodon was a mailed edentate, eight feet long, resembling the little armadillo.
The Elements of Geology | William Harmon Nortonedentate animals, such as the sloth, are without teeth, or at least are without the incisors.
Orthography | Elmer W. CavinsI observe that Rudolphi distinctly refers to this edentate as the tamandua.
Parasites | T. Spencer Cobbold
British Dictionary definitions for edentate
/ (iːˈdɛnteɪt) /
any of the placental mammals that constitute the order Edentata, which inhabit tropical regions of Central and South America. The order includes anteaters, sloths, and armadillos
of, relating to, or belonging to the order Edentata
Origin of edentate
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for edentate
[ ē-dĕn′tāt′ ]
Lacking teeth.
Any of various mammals belonging to the order Xenarthra (or Edentata), having no front teeth and few or no back teeth. The lumbar vertebrae have extra joints, which add support during digging. Sloths, armadillos, and anteaters are edentates.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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