ostracod
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- ostracodan adjective
- ostracodous adjective
Etymology
Origin of ostracod
1860–65; < New Latin Ostracoda name of the subclass < Greek ostrakṓdēs, equivalent to óstrak ( on ) shell, tile ( see ostracize) + -ōdēs -ode 1
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.
That is 273 million years earlier than the glowing ostracod crustaceans that previously held the title of earliest evolution of bioluminescence in animals.
From Science Daily • Apr. 23, 2024
Males of the ostracod species Photeros annecohenae, which live in shallow seagrasses in the western Caribbean Sea, rely on two main tactics to compete with one another.
From Science Magazine • Nov. 28, 2023
But sometimes an ostracod will stay dark and sneak up on another displaying male, in hopes of intercepting a female drawn in by the competitor’s display.
From Science Magazine • Nov. 28, 2023
The team of researchers set about studying 93 species of extinct ostracod, featured in a recent study published in Nature.
From Salon • Jun. 8, 2018
Seventy million years ago, in a warm shallow sea, swam an ostracod — a tiny bean-shaped creature, no bigger than a grain of sand.
From Salon • Jun. 8, 2018
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.
