AMPHIBIAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does amphibian mean? 

• AMPHIBIAN (noun)
  The noun AMPHIBIAN has 3 senses:

1. a flat-bottomed motor vehicle that can travel on land or water

2. an airplane designed to take off and land on water

3. cold-blooded vertebrate typically living on land but breeding in water; aquatic larvae undergo metamorphosis into adult form

  Familiarity information: AMPHIBIAN used as a noun is uncommon.

• AMPHIBIAN (adjective)
  The adjective AMPHIBIAN has 1 sense:

1. relating to or characteristic of animals of the class Amphibia

  Familiarity information: AMPHIBIAN used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AMPHIBIAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A flat-bottomed motor vehicle that can travel on land or water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

amphibian; amphibious vehicle

Hypernyms ("amphibian" is a kind of...):

automotive vehicle; motor vehicle (a self-propelled wheeled vehicle that does not run on rails)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "amphibian"):

marsh buggy; swamp buggy (an amphibious vehicle typically having four-wheel drive and a raised body)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An airplane designed to take off and land on water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

amphibian; amphibious aircraft

Hypernyms ("amphibian" is a kind of...):

aeroplane; airplane; plane (an aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets)

Meronyms (parts of "amphibian"):

pontoon (a float supporting a seaplane)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cold-blooded vertebrate typically living on land but breeding in water; aquatic larvae undergo metamorphosis into adult form

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("amphibian" is a kind of...):

craniate; vertebrate (animals having a bony or cartilaginous skeleton with a segmented spinal column and a large brain enclosed in a skull or cranium)

Meronyms (parts of "amphibian"):

lateral line; lateral line organ (sense organs of fish and amphibians; believed to detect pressure changes in the water)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "amphibian"):

Hynerpeton bassetti (fossil amphibian of the Devonian having well-developed forelimbs; found in Pennsylvania)

Ichyostega (early tetrapod amphibian found in Greenland)

caudate; urodele (amphibians that resemble lizards)

salamander (any of various typically terrestrial amphibians that resemble lizards and that return to water only to breed)

anuran; batrachian; frog; salientian; toad; toad frog (any of various tailless stout-bodied amphibians with long hind limbs for leaping; semiaquatic and terrestrial species)

blindworm; caecilian (any of the small slender limbless burrowing wormlike amphibians of the order Gymnophiona; inhabit moist soil in tropical regions)

labyrinthodont (an amphibian of the superorder Labyrinthodontia)

Holonyms ("amphibian" is a member of...):

amphibia; class Amphibia (the class of vertebrates that live on land but breed in water; frogs; toads; newts; salamanders; caecilians)

Derivation:

amphibian (relating to or characteristic of animals of the class Amphibia)

• AMPHIBIAN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relating to or characteristic of animals of the class Amphibia

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

amphibian; amphibious

Pertainym:

amphibia (the class of vertebrates that live on land but breed in water; frogs; toads; newts; salamanders; caecilians)

Derivation:

amphibian (cold-blooded vertebrate typically living on land but breeding in water; aquatic larvae undergo metamorphosis into adult form)

 Context examples 

Amphibians are sold in restaurants or as pets, creating a functional Pangaea for infectious diseases, effectively breaking down geographical barriers that once stopped the dispersal of organisms.

(Deadly fungal disease ‘caused greatest biodiversity loss ever recorded’, SciDev.Net)

The singular posterior opening of the intestinal and urinary tracts of birds, reptiles, amphibians, marsupials and monotremes.

(Cloaca, NCI Thesaurus)

Site of initiation of gastrulation in the amphibian embryo.

(Dorsal Lip, NCI Thesaurus)

According to the researchers, these findings apply to other animals too, so impacts can also be expected for birds, reptiles and amphibians.

(Fire control harms biodiversity in Brazilian savannah, SciDev.Net)

Amphibians are cold blooded land animals that lay eggs in the water.

(Amphibia, NCI Thesaurus)

A. hydrophila is found in freshwater and marine environments and is pathogenic to fish, amphibians, and mammals.

(Aeromonas hydrophila, NCI Thesaurus)

The drugs have caused sex charges in fish and amphibians and one type of anti-inflammatory drug has driven vultures in India close to extinction.

(Experts Warn Prescription, Over-the-Counter Drugs Polluting World's Rivers, VOA)

The migration and reproduction of birds, fish, amphibians, insects and bats can be disrupted, and plants can have abnormally extended growing periods.

(Study: Earth’s Night Skies Getting Brighter, VOA)

Burivalova and his team found that soundscape saturation peaked at dawn and dusk, likely because most birds and amphibians vocalise in those periods.

(Scientists record the sound of intact forest, SciDev.Net)

An amphibian in the order Anura, which includes the toads.

(Frog, NCI Thesaurus)