US /ˈdaɪnəsoɹ/ UK /ˈdaɪnəsɔː(ɹ)/
noun Freq #7600

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    A large reptile that lived millions of years ago and is now extinct.

    The museum has a huge dinosaur skeleton in the main hall.

  2. 2
    noun

    A person or thing that is old-fashioned and unwilling to change.

    Some critics call the old phone company a dinosaur in the digital age.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
2 noun · a person or thing that is... fossilfuddy-duddy
Word family
Forms dinosaurs
Derived forms dinosaur-burnerdinosauriandinosauricdinosaurishdinosaurlikedinosauroiddinosaurologistdinosaurologynondinosaurpedosaurpinosaur

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δεινός (deinós, “terrible, awesome, mighty, fearfully great”) + σαῦρος (saûros, “lizard, reptile”). Coined as Dinosaur(s) and Dinosauria by paleontologist Richard Owen in 1841/1842.

View etymology graph ->

Topics

markdown

Send feedback

Optional — only if you'd like a reply.