megathere

American

[meg-uh-theer] / ˈmɛg əˌθɪər /

noun

any of the huge, slothlike animals of the extinct genus Megatherium, or closely related genera, that lived from the Oligocene to the Pleistocene epochs.

megathere British

/ ˈmɛɡəˌθɪə /

noun

any of various gigantic extinct American sloths of the genus Megatherium and related genera, common in late Cenozoic times

"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

Other Word Forms

megatherian adjective

Etymology

Origin of megathere

1830–40; < New Latin Megatherium; see mega-, -there

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.

And now conceive the massive frame of the megathere convulsed with the mighty wrestling, every vibrating fibre reacting upon its bony attachments with the force of a hundred giants.

From The Western World Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North and South America by Kingston, William Henry Giles

See the vast mylodon, the scelidothere, and the still more colossal megathere!

From The Western World Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North and South America by Kingston, William Henry Giles

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023