herpetologist
Americannoun
Explanation
A herpetologist is someone who specializes in the study of reptiles and amphibians. If it slithers around on its belly, a herpetologist will know what it is. The word herpetologist comes from the Greek root herpeton meaning "creeping animal." When a herpetologist goes out searching for reptiles and amphibians, he is herping, or peeking under rocks and in the mud, hoping to find a slithery creature lingering there. What will he find? Turtles, snakes, alligators, salamanders, etc. These reptiles and amphibians are a herpetologist's forte.
Vocabulary lists containing herpetologist
Turtle Boy
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Are You Ready to Hatch an Unusual Chicken?
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for June 1–June 7, 2025
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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.
The author recalls an interview he did with the herpetologist: Despite this account not conforming to reality, “everything Wells was telling me made perfect sense,” he writes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Chan is a herpetologist, meaning he studies amphibians and reptiles such as frogs, turtles, lizards, and snakes.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 9, 2026
“This is a very thorough study, and I full trust the genetic results,” says Wolfgang Böhme, an honorary staff member and senior herpetologist at the Museum Koenig in Germany in an email.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 16, 2024
In 2001, Joseph Slowinski, a herpetologist at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, died 30 hours after he was bitten by a small venomous snake in the mountainous jungles of northern Myanmar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2023
A number of persons solemnly have declared that they have seen snakes do so, but no herpetologist ever has seen an occurrence of that kind.
From The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals A Book of Personal Observations by William Temple Hornaday
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.
