paleontologist

American  

[pey-lee-uhn-tol-uh-jist, pal-ee-] / ˌpeɪ li ənˈtɒl ə dʒɪst, ˌpæl i- /

noun

1. a scientist who specializes in the study of life forms that existed in previous geologic periods, as represented by their fossils.

   The education program manager for the museum has worked as a paleontologist, digging up dinosaur bones in Wyoming.

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Etymology

Origin of paleontologist

paleontolog(y) ( def. ) + -ist ( def. )

Example Sentences

For more than five years, the Valiora Dinosaur Research Group, made up of Hungarian and Romanian paleontologists, has been carrying out fieldwork in the western Hațeg Basin.

From Science Daily

"Direct dating of fossils is a paleontologist's dream," says study co-author Lindsay Zanno, associate research professor at North Carolina State University and head of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

From Science Daily

When paleontologists revisited the area in the early 2000s, they recognized the bones as belonging to ancient sea cows.

From Science Daily

For many years, paleontologists have debated whether the single skull used to define the species Nanotyrannus represented a true species or simply a young Tyrannosaurus rex.

From Science Daily

The study, reported in The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, was conducted by a team of Egyptian paleontologists.

From Science Daily