microfossil
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of microfossil
Explanation
A microfossil is a trace left in rock by a plant or animal from a past geological age — a trace so tiny that it must be studied with a microscope, an instrument that enlarges the image of anything placed under it. The trace that is left behind could be an actual part of the plant or animal that has turned to rock, or just an impression left by it. Either of these is called a fossil, and a microfossil is a very tiny one. Micro- is a combining form meaning "small," and it appears in quite a few words. A microscope, for example, is a scientific instrument for looking at very small things, and microbiology is a branch of biology dealing with very small life forms.
Vocabulary lists containing microfossil
Earth Science - Middle School
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Earth Science - High School
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History of Earth - Middle School
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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.
This study has only worked on the planktonic foraminifera, however there are many other microfossil groups which have important roles in marine food webs which need to be studied.
From Science Daily • Apr. 17, 2024
Conceivably, there is still cryptic life on Mars, although astrobiologists would be thrilled to find even a microfossil of something that lived billions of years ago.
From Washington Post • Feb. 21, 2023
In 1996, scientists proposed that they had found a microfossil in a Martian meteorite.
From New York Times • Feb. 21, 2023
It also triggered the widespread microbial blooms we detected in our microfossil studies: the slime revolution had begun.
From Scientific American • Jul. 6, 2022
However, the most reliable record for early life, the microfossil record, starts at 3.5 billion years ago.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
