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Mesozoic

[mez-uh-zoh-ik, mes-, mee-zuh-, -suh-]Geology
adjective
  1. noting or pertaining to an era occurring between 230 and 65 million years ago, characterized by the appearance of flowering plants and by the appearance and extinction of dinosaurs.
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noun
  1. the Mesozoic Era or group of systems.
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Origin of Mesozoic

First recorded in 1830–40; meso- + zo- + -ic
Related formspost-Mes·o·zo·ic, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for mesozoic

Historical Examples

  • No remains of the horse tribe are at present known from any Mesozoic deposit.

    On the Method of Zadig

    Thomas Henry Huxley

  • They have been the ruling animals since the close of Mesozoic time.

  • The one is the twilight of the Palozoic day, the other is the dawn of the Mesozoic.

  • In so far as we know, it remained for the Mesozoic to introduce the birds and mammals.

  • This following Mesozoic time must next engage our attention.

British Dictionary definitions for mesozoic

Mesozoic

adjective
  1. of, denoting, or relating to an era of geological time that began 250 000 000 years ago with the Triassic period and lasted about 185 000 000 years until the end of the Cretaceous period
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noun
  1. the Mesozoic the Mesozoic era
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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

Word Origin and History for mesozoic

Mesozoic

adj.

1840, from Greek mesos "middle" (see meso-) + zoe "life" (see zoo) + -ic. Name coined by British geologist John Phillips for the fossil era "between" the Paleozoic and the Cenozoic.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
mesozoic in Science

Mesozoic

[mĕz′ə-zō′ĭk]
  1. The era of geologic time from about 245 to 65 million years ago. The Mesozoic Era was characterized by a drastic change in plants and animals. In the early part of the Mesozoic, ferns, cycads, and ginkgos were dominant; later, gymnosperms and angiosperms developed. Dinosaurs also first appeared in the Mesozoic and, with the exception of birds, became extinct at the end of the era. See Chart at geologic time.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.