mastodon

[ mas-tuh-don ]
See synonyms for mastodon on Thesaurus.com
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.

Origin of mastodon

1
1805–15; <New Latin <Greek mast(ós) breast + odṓn tooth

Other words from mastodon

  • mas·to·don·ic, adjective

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How to use mastodon in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for mastodon

mastodon

/ (ˈmæstəˌdɒn) /


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

Origin of mastodon

1
C19: from New Latin, literally: breast-tooth, referring to the nipple-shaped projections on the teeth

Derived 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

mastodon

[ măstə-dŏn′ ]


  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.

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