stegodon

American

[steg-uh-don] / ˈstɛg əˌdɒn /

noun

any extinct elephantlike mammal of the genus Stegodon, from the late Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, usually considered to be directly ancestral to the modern elephant.

stegodon British

/ ˈstɛɡəˌdɒnt, ˈstɛɡəˌdɒn /

noun

any proboscidean mammal of the genus Stegodon, of Pliocene to Pleistocene times, similar to the mastodons

"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

Etymology

Origin of stegodon

< New Latin, equivalent to Greek stego- stego- + -odōn toothed; see -odont

Example Sentences

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In 2008 and 2010, Ciochon’s team re-excavated the site, turning up 867 new fossils belonging to deer, wild cattle, and an extinct, elephantlike animal called a stegodon.

From Science Magazine • Dec. 18, 2019

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023