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View synonyms for marsupial

marsupial

[ mahr-soo-pee-uhl ]

noun

  1. any viviparous, nonplacental mammal of the order Marsupialia, comprising the opossums, kangaroos, wombats, and bandicoots, the females of most species having a marsupium containing the mammary glands and serving as a receptacle for the young.


adjective

  1. pertaining to, resembling, or having a marsupium.
  2. of or relating to the marsupials.

marsupial

/ mɑːˈsjuːpɪəl; -ˈsuː-; -ˌsuː-; mɑːˌsjuːpɪˈeɪlɪən /

noun

  1. any mammal of the order Marsupialia, in which the young are born in an immature state and continue development in the marsupium. The order occurs mainly in Australia and South and Central America and includes the opossums, bandicoots, koala, wombats, and kangaroos
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


adjective

  1. of, relating to, or belonging to the Marsupialia
  2. of or relating to a marsupium
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

marsupial

/ mär-so̅o̅pē-əl /

  1. Any of various mammals of the order Marsupialia, whose young are very undeveloped when born and continue developing outside their mother's body attached to one of her nipples. Most marsupials have longer hindlegs than forelimbs, and the females usually have pouches in which they carry their young. Kangaroos, opossums, and koalas are marsupials.


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Derived Forms

  • marsupialian, nounadjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of marsupial1

First recorded in 1690–1700, marsupial is from the New Latin word marsupiālis pertaining to a pouch. See marsupium, -al 1
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Word History and Origins

Origin of marsupial1

C17: see marsupium
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Compare Meanings

How does marsupial compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

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Example Sentences

Some marsupials, like kangaroos, have pouches that open forward.

An attempt to save an endangered marsupial in Australia called the northern quoll may have put the animals at greater risk.

Scientists hope the vaccine will finally offer koala populations protection from the disease, which is recognized as the most dangerous pathogen for the marsupials.

Many semelparous organisms also experience reproductive death, like Pacific salmon and the marsupial antechinus.

Because of their unique reproductive biology and their relative rarity in laboratory settings, though, marsupials had eluded the CRISPR rush—until now.

There are three kinds of didelphic or marsupial animals on the coast.

The pelvis, it is true, is furnished with marsupial bones, but these animals possess no pouch.

It is digitigrade: it has five toes on the fore, and four toes on its hinder feet; its marsupial bones are simply rudimental.

In Australia we find marsupial forms as at the present day; but they were gigantic in comparison with the latter.

It was associated with correspondingly large marsupial mammals, now also extinct.

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Marston Moormarsupial bone