dinosaur
noun/ˈdaɪnəsɔː(r)/
/ˈdaɪnəsɔːr/
- a reptile that lived millions of years ago but is now extinct (= it no longer exists). There were many types of dinosaur, some of which were very large. Modern scientists now consider that birds, which evolved (= developed) from dinosaurs, belong to the same group and can be called avian dinosaurs. It is only non-avian dinosaurs (which were reptiles) that are extinct. However, in non-scientific English dinosaur usually refers to an extinct reptile, not a bird.Topics Animalsb2
- (disapproving) a person or thing that is old-fashioned and cannot change in the changing conditions of modern life
Word Originmid 19th cent.: from modern Latin dinosaurus, from Greek deinos ‘terrible’ + sauros ‘lizard’.
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dinosaur