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.
Similarly, the development of the neocortex, which is exclusively mammalian and, according to Lori Marino of the Whale Sanctuary Project, provides for “self-awareness, social cognition, some form of memory, problem solving.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
It wasn’t painful, but after several weeks I developed alpha-gal syndrome, an increasingly common allergy to red meat, dairy and other mammalian food products.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
Versions reconstructed from more recent mammalian ancestors, dating back a few million years, became progressively more effective.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026
That suggests the trait appeared sometime after lactoferrin emerged during mammalian evolution.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026
Eurasian peoples happened to inherit many more species of domesticable large wild mammalian herbivores than did peoples of the other continents.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
