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.
It’s illegal to feed undomesticated mammalian predators, including coyotes, but establishing that a crime occurred required evidence that animal services did not initially find, the agency said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
Many longtime residents have developed habits to calm their minds during these exceptional conditions — meditation, a dip in the ocean to trigger the calming mammalian dive response, support groups to talk through the pain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
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
"These extraordinary fossils continue to transform our understanding of mammalian evolution."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026
But the sorrow of birds was not as potent as mammalian sorrow.
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
