Mississippian

[ mis-uh-sip-ee-uhn ]

adjective
  1. of or relating to the state of Mississippi or the Mississippi River.

  2. Geology. noting or pertaining to a period of the Paleozoic Era, occurring from about 345 million to 310 million years ago and characterized as the age of amphibians.

noun
  1. a native or inhabitant of Mississippi.

  2. Geology. the Mississippian Period or System: the former is sometimes considered an epoch of the Carboniferous Period.

Origin of Mississippian

1
An Americanism dating back to 1765–75; Mississippi + -an

Words Nearby Mississippian

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Mississippian in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for Mississippian

Mississippian

/ (ˌmɪsɪˈsɪpɪən) /


adjective
  1. of or relating to the state of Mississippi or the Mississippi River

  2. (in North America) of, denoting, or formed in the lower of two subdivisions of the Carboniferous period, which lasted for 30 million years: See also Pennsylvanian (def. 2)

noun
  1. an inhabitant or native of the state of Mississippi

  2. the Mississippian the Mississippian period or rock system equivalent to the lower Carboniferous of Europe

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 Mississippian

Mississippian

[ mĭs′ĭ-sĭpē-ən ]


  1. The fifth period of the Paleozoic Era, from about 360 to 320 million years ago. During this time shallow seas spread over former land areas and the first primitive conifers appeared. See Chart at geologic time.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.