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tyrannosaurus

British

/ tɪˌrænəˈsɔːrəs, tɪˈrænəˌsɔː /

noun

any large carnivorous bipedal dinosaur of the genus Tyrannosaurus, common in North America in upper Jurassic and Cretaceous times: suborder Theropoda (theropods)

"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 tyrannosaurus

C19: from New Latin, from Greek turannos _tyrant + sauros lizard

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.

It lived between 100 and 120 million years ago - around 40 million years earlier than the tyrannosaurus rex - and is about twice the size of that creature.

From BBC • May 14, 2026

“And it doesn’t get any more diagnostic than that, seeing these giant tyrannosaurus teeth starring back at you.”

From Seattle Times • Jun. 3, 2024

Earlier this year, the United States returned dinosaur fossils taken out of Mongolia, including the skull of an alioramus, a smaller version of a tyrannosaurus rex that lived 70 million years ago.

From Reuters • Nov. 20, 2023

This means that a wide range of iconic dinosaurs were warm-blooded: Velociraptors and tyrannosaurus rexes were theropods, pterodactyls and so-called "monkeydactyls" were pterosaurs, triceratopses and stegosauruses were ornithischia, and brontosauruses and brachiosauruses were sauropods.

From Salon • May 29, 2022

The tyrannosaurus spun, snapping at Magdalys as she scurried up toward Riker.

From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older

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