mammalian
Americannoun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of mammalian
Explanation
Use the adjective mammalian to describe warm-blooded vertebrates with hair, or anything related to them. Your sister might be fond of snakes and frogs, while you'd prefer a mammalian pet, like a dog or cat. You, your pet dog, a gorilla, and a skunk all have something very important in common: you can all be described as mammalian, since you are all in the scientific class known as Mammalia. Mammalian characteristics range from having three small bones in each ear, to not being born inside an egg (with the exception of the platypus and other monotremes), to being nursed by a mother as an infant.
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.
"This completely changes our understanding of how mammalian immune systems can be organized and raises exciting new questions about why bats have been so evolutionarily successful and how they respond to viruses."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
"There was so much prey available that mammalian predators couldn't have eaten it all," says Oscar Wilson, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026
Federal inspectors detailed multiple instances of mammalian hair found in drugs produced at a Catalent plant in Bloomington, Ind., used in part to manufacture semaglutide.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
The nearly autonomous facility allows scientists to grow mammalian cells from genetically humanized mice remotely and monitor stainless-steel bioreactors in real time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
These are all mammalian characteristics, all important for the development of intelligent beings.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
