dinosaur

noun

di·​no·​saur ˈdī-nə-ˌsȯr How to pronounce dinosaur (audio)
Synonyms of dinosaurnext
1
: any of a group (Dinosauria) of extinct, often very large, carnivorous or herbivorous archosaurian reptiles that have the hind limbs extending directly beneath the body and include chiefly terrestrial, bipedal or quadrupedal ornithischians (such as ankylosaurs and stegosaurs) and saurischians (such as sauropods and theropods) which flourished during the Mesozoic era from the late Triassic period to the end of the Cretaceous period
The dinosaurs, which once dominated the earth, disappeared very swiftly, leaving room for tiny shrewlike creatures to crawl out of shelter and start on the road to mammalian domination of the planet.—D. E. Thomsen
Most scientists now concur that at least one great extraterrestrial object struck the planet around the time the dinosaurs died out.—Rick Gore
also : any of a broader group that also includes all living and extinct birds
The overwhelming majority of scientists are now convinced that birds are theropod dinosaurs … —James O'Donoghue

Note: Dinosaurs have traditionally been considered a separate group from birds, which evolved from dinosaurs, but modern paleontologists now view birds as survivors of a theropod lineage of dinosaurs. In this classification, all dinosaurs except birds became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period approximately 65 million years ago, with all dinosaurs that are not birds referred to as dinosaurs or non-avian dinosaurs and birds typically referred to as avian dinosaurs.

2
: any of various large extinct reptiles (such as an ichthyosaur or mosasaur) other than the true dinosaurs
3
: one that is impractically large, out-of-date, or obsolete
The factory is now a rusting dinosaur.
dinosaurian
ˌdī-nə-ˈsȯr-ē-ən How to pronounce dinosaur (audio)
adjective
dinosauric
ˌdī-nə-ˈsȯr-ik How to pronounce dinosaur (audio)
adjective

Synonyms

See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus 

Examples of dinosaur in a Sentence

The old factory is now a rusting dinosaur. The character she plays is a dinosaur—a former beauty queen who is living in the past.
Recent Examples on the Web Builders aged seven and up can transform the 174-piece set into three different posable dinosaurs — a tyrannosaurus rex, a triceratops, and a pterodactyl. —Mia Huelsbeck, Peoplemag, 27 Apr. 2024 The terror bird — an extinct group of carnivorous birds that once dominated the current territory of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay after the extinction of dinosaurs — persisted between 23 million years ago and up to about 17 thousand years ago. —Discover Magazine, 26 Apr. 2024 The 1993 blockbuster film Jurassic Park transformed the public’s perception of dinosaurs, propelling the velociraptor to the forefront of terror. —Aaron Boorstein, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Apr. 2024 The park is known for its bevy of dinosaur and sea creature fossils, along with volcanic rock. —Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 Apr. 2024 From the bizarre Yeti backup dancers and oversized dinosaur to actual mud moshpitting and a hazmat suit, her performance was an assault on the senses in the right ways. —Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 19 Apr. 2024 During the Rhaetian, gigantic ichthyosaurs swam while dinosaurs walked on land. —Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 17 Apr. 2024 So, the dinosaur was wind-rated up to 40 miles an hour of sustained wind — which is actually after the point that the festival would’ve closed down anyway, so there were no scenarios in which that was gonna have to be killed. —Chris Willman, Variety, 16 Apr. 2024 For kids, dinosaurs are sort of where real life and magic meet. —Ashley Ziegler, Parents, 13 Apr. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dinosaur.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from presumed New Latin *dinosaurus, the base of Dinosauria, former reptile taxon, from Greek deinós "inspiring dread or awe" + -o- -o- + New Latin Sauria, former reptile suborder, from Greek saúros "lizard" + New Latin -ia -ia entry 2 — more at deinonychus, -saurus

Note: The taxonomic name Dinosauria as well as the vernacular form dinosaur were both introduced by the British biologist and paleontologist Richard Owen (1804-92) in "Report on British Fossil Reptiles. Part II," Report of the Eleventh Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science ("Held at Plymouth in July 1841") (London: J. Murray, 1842), p. 103: "The combination of such characters, some, as the sacral ones [i.e., the sacral vertebrae fused into a single structure], altogether peculiar among Reptiles, others borrowed, as it were, from groups now distinct from each other, and all manifested by creatures far surpassing in size the largest of existing reptiles, will, it is presumed, be deemed sufficient ground for establishing a distinct tribe or sub-order of Saurian Reptiles, for which I would propose the name of Dinosauria. [Footnote to the above] Gr. deinòs, fearfully great; saúros, a lizard." Although Owen's "Report on British Fossil Reptiles" purports to be the record of an oral presentation given at Plymouth in July, 1841, the detailed contemporary accounts of Owen's lecture do not mention dinosaur or Dinosauria, and it is now clear that he only introduced the word with the extensively revised version of the report released in April, 1842. The background to Owen's report is analyzed by Hugh S. Torrens in "Politics and Paleontology: Richard Owen and the Invention of Dinosaurs," M. K. Brett-Surman, et al., editors, The Complete Dinosaur, 2nd edition (Indiana University Press, 2012), pp. 25-43. Offprints of Owen's article have the publication date 1841, but, as Torrens demonstrates (p. 34), this was an error (perhaps deliberately uncorrected by Owen). Owen's rendering of Greek deinós (a word with a wide semantic range) as "fearfully great" is at odds with the conventional notion that dinosaur means "terrible lizard" in Greek. Although "terrible" (i.e., terrifying) is a possible translation of deinós, it does not appear to be the meaning Owen intended.

First Known Use

1842, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of dinosaur was in 1842

Phrases Containing dinosaur

Dictionary Entries Near dinosaur

Dinornithidae

dinosaur

Dinosauria

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Dinosaur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dinosaur. Accessed 1 May. 2024.

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Kids Definition

dinosaur

noun
di·​no·​saur ˈdī-nə-ˌsȯr How to pronounce dinosaur (audio)
: any of a group of extinct often very large mostly land-dwelling long-tailed reptiles of the Mesozoic era
Etymology

derived from Greek deinos "terrible" and Greek sauros "lizard"

More from Merriam-Webster on dinosaur

Nglish: Translation of dinosaur for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of dinosaur for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about dinosaur

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