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dinosaur

American  
[dahy-nuh-sawr] / ˈdaɪ nəˌsɔr /

noun

  1. any chiefly terrestrial, herbivorous or carnivorous reptile of the extinct orders Saurischia and Ornithischia, from the Mesozoic Era, certain species of which are the largest known land animals.

  2. something that is unwieldy in size, anachronistically outmoded, or unable to adapt to change.

    The old steel mill was a dinosaur that cost the company millions to operate.
dinosaur British  
/ ˈdaɪnəˌsɔː /

noun

  1. any extinct terrestrial reptile of the orders Saurischia and Ornithischia, many of which were of gigantic size and abundant in the Mesozoic era See also saurischian ornithischian Compare pterosaur plesiosaur

  2. a person or thing that is considered to be out of date

"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

Other Word Forms

  • dinosaurian adjective

Etymology

Origin of dinosaur

< New Latin Dinosaurus (1841), originally a genus name. See dino-, -saur

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.