mastodon
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.
a person of immense size, power, influence, etc.
Origin of mastodon
1Other words from mastodon
- mas·to·don·ic, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use mastodon in a sentence
Upon the mastodonic brow of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce there hangs an official laurel wreath.
Abroad at Home | Julian StreetThe midget Lawyer looked up in Envy at his mastodonic Acquaintance and sighed.
People You Know | George AdeHe discards lumbering descriptions, antique melodramatics, set developments and dénouements, mastodonic structures.
Unicorns | James HunekerThe diluvian soil of the Michigan Peninsula is thus added to the wide area of the mastodonic period.
Personal Memoirs Of A Residence Of Thirty Years With The Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers | Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
British Dictionary definitions for mastodon
/ (ˈmæstəˌdɒn) /
any extinct elephant-like proboscidean mammal of the genus Mammut (or Mastodon), common in Pliocene times
Origin of mastodon
1Derived forms of mastodon
- mastodontic, adjective
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
Scientific definitions for mastodon
[ măs′tə-dŏn′ ]
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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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