foraminifer
Americannoun
-
foraminifers,
plural
-
foraminifera
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of foraminifer
1835–45; < New Latin Foraminifera, equivalent to Latin forāmin-, stem of forāmen foramen + -ifera; see -i-, -fer
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.
See Examples For:
Now, an international group of researchers have discovered a previously unknown species of large foraminifer, shedding new light on the ecological evolution and biodiversity of coral reefs in the Ryukyu Islands.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2023
Beds of gneiss and quartzite, with interstratified limestones, in one of which, 1000 feet thick, occurs a foraminifer, Eozoon Canadense, the oldest known fossil.
From The Student's Elements of Geology by Sir Charles Lyell
The Laurentian rocks have yielded only one fossil—a large foraminifer named Eozoon Canadense.
From Geology by James Geikie
In these rocks the nucleus of every minute spherule is seen, under the microscope, to consist of a small rhizopod or foraminifer.
From The Student's Elements of Geology by Sir Charles Lyell
Sir William Dawson’s name is especially associated with the Eozoon canadense, which in 1864 he described as an organism having the structure of a foraminifer.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 10 "David, St" to "Demidov" by Various
The method examines the chemistry of ancient foraminifera, microscopic marine organisms whose remains are preserved in seafloor sediments.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
The study suggests that between 10 and 20 new species of foraminifera appeared within roughly 6,000 years of the impact, although paleontologists still debate exactly which fossils represent distinct species.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 15, 2026
Nutrient cycling data comes from tiny shells once inhabited by foraminifera, organisms that digest nitrogen.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 13, 2025
In addition, the size of foraminifera fossils proved to be a fundamental piece of the puzzle.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 15, 2024
Spicules of sponges and fragments of other organisms, such as molluscs, polyzoa, foraminifera and brachiopods, often occur in flint, and may be partly or wholly silicified with retention of their original structure.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 5 "Fleury, Claude" to "Foraker" by Various
The study focuses on three major groups of calcifying plankton: coccolithophores, foraminifers, and pteropods.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 8, 2026
Among living foraminifers, Lagena, Globigerina, and Nodosaria are known in the later Cambrian or early Ordovician.
From Climatic Changes Their Nature and Causes by Ellsworth Huntington
Certain small foraminifers, for example, met with in some of the oldest formations, do not seem to differ from species which are still living.
From Geology by James Geikie
To the west its waters were clear and on its floor the crumbled remains of foraminifers gathered in heavy accumulations of calcareous ooze,— the white chalk of France and England.
From The Elements of Geology by William Harmon Norton
At one moment he has to deal with the bones of some large mammal scattered through a deposit of superficial gravel, at another time with the minute foraminifers and ostracods of an upraised sea-bottom.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 6 "Geodesy" to "Geometry" by Various
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.
