palaeontology
Britishnoun
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the study of fossils to determine the structure and evolution of extinct animals and plants and the age and conditions of deposition of the rock strata in which they are found See also palaeobotany palaeozoology
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another name for palaeozoology
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of palaeontology
C19: from palaeo- + onto- + -logy
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 is an example of how modern analytical palaeontology and rigorous scientific methods can resolve an almost century-old palaeontological enigma.
From Science Daily • Feb. 16, 2024
Dr Neil Clark, curator of palaeontology at The Hunterian, recalls how part of another bone was uncovered by BP oil workers on a field trip in 1994.
From BBC • Feb. 9, 2024
The scientists also posted a video online showing a computer-simulated reconstruction of Jakapil kaniukura as presented by Chilean palaeoartist and palaeontology student at the Río Negro National University Gabriel Díaz Yantén.
From Salon • Aug. 15, 2022
However, Steve Brusatte, professor of palaeontology and evolution at the University of Edinburgh, said the study was elegant and convincing.
From The Guardian • Jun. 29, 2020
Now the independent study of embryology suggests exactly the same pedigree, and the entirely independent testimony of palaeontology is precisely in harmony with the already confirmed theory arrived at in this way.
From Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
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.
