mastodon

[mas-tuh-don]

noun

1. a massive, elephantlike mammal of the genus Mammut (Mastodon ), that flourished worldwide from the Miocene through the Pleistocene epochs and, in North America, into recent times, having long, curved upper tusks and, in the male, short lower tusks.

2. a person of immense size, power, influence, etc.

mastodon

/ ˈmæstəˌdɒn /

noun

1. any extinct elephant-like proboscidean mammal of the genus Mammut (or Mastodon ), common in Pliocene times

mastodon

1. Any of several extinct mammals of the genus Mastodon (or Mammut). Mastodons resembled elephants and mammoths except that their molar teeth had conelike cusps rather than parallel ridges for grinding. Like elephants, mastodons had a pair of long, curved tusks growing from their upper jaw, but males also sometimes had a second pair from the lower jaw. Like mammoths, mastodons were covered with hair. They lived from the Oligocene Epoch to the end of the Ice Age.

Other Word Forms

• mastodonic adjective
• mastodontic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of mastodon¹

1805–15; < New Latin < Greek mast ( ós ) breast + odṓn tooth

Word History and Origins

Origin of mastodon¹

C19: from New Latin, literally: breast-tooth, referring to the nipple-shaped projections on the teeth

Example Sentences

All are supported by steel cables and tusk-like beams, referencing everything from Japanese armor to the mastodons in the adjacent La Brea Tar Pits.

From Los Angeles Times

And they have tiny, mostly useless little eyes, no ears, and a pair of huge incisors like a mastodon's tusks.

From Salon

For millions of years, North America was home to a zoo of giants: mammoths and mastodons, camels and dire wolves, sloths the size of elephants and beavers as big as bears.

From New York Times

The shrub-like oak tree has been a fixture of the landscape since mastodons and saber-toothed cats last roamed Southern California.

From Los Angeles Times

Nonetheless, the tree has been a fixture of the landscape since mastodons and saber-toothed cats last roamed Southern California.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• boar