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
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
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
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 Laurentian rocks have yielded only one fossil—a large foraminifer named Eozoon Canadense.
From Geology by James Geikie
This study has only worked on the planktonic foraminifera, however there are many other microfossil groups which have important roles in marine food webs which need to be studied.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 17, 2024
Nitrogen isotopes preserved within fossil foraminifera enabled the scientists to track past changes in column denitrification in the water.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 15, 2024
He found that with their burrows, foraminifera allow oxygen to go deeper into the sediment, increasing the amount of oxygen by 15 to 20 per cent.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 11, 2023
Finding enough foraminifera for the experiment was a challenge.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 11, 2023
The first known denizens of great depths were the foraminifera and few echinoderms brought up by various sounding apparatus.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 7 "Drama" to "Dublin" 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
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
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
Beneath the reef are thick beds of limestone, composed largely of the remains of foraminifers, which cover the lavas and fragraental materials of the old submarine volcano.
From The Elements of Geology by William Harmon Norton
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.
