paleontologist

[ pey-lee-uhn-tol-uh-jistor, especially British, pal-ee- ]

noun

1. a scientist who specializes in the study of life forms that existed in previous geologic periods, as represented by their fossils:

   The education program manager for the museum has worked as a paleontologist, digging up dinosaur bones in Wyoming.

Word History and Origins

Origin of paleontologist¹

paleontolog(y) ( def ) + -ist ( def )

Example Sentences

For many years, paleontologists have debated what these prehistoric big cats would have looked like based on their fossilized bones.

From Science Magazine

Even that small outpost is miles from the desert where a dozen paleontologists are hiking, looking for signs of long-ago life.

From Los Angeles Times

Normally nonconfrontational paleontologists were so wowed by their fossils that they sued to try to protect the land.

From Los Angeles Times

“We recently experienced the worst drought in one hundred years,” the paleontologist adds, and Montevideo was hit by a lack of potable water.

From Salon

Elizabeth Freedman Fowler, a dinosaur paleontologist at Dickinson State University who was not involved in the study, agrees some of these supposedly distinct fossils could actually be different-looking specimens of the same species.

From Science Magazine