ICHTHYOSAUR (ichthyosauruses)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: ichthyosauruses   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ichthyosaur mean? 

• ICHTHYOSAUR (noun)
  The noun ICHTHYOSAUR has 1 sense:

1. any of several marine reptiles of the Mesozoic having a body like a porpoise with dorsal and tail fins and paddle-shaped limbs

  Familiarity information: ICHTHYOSAUR used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ICHTHYOSAUR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of several marine reptiles of the Mesozoic having a body like a porpoise with dorsal and tail fins and paddle-shaped limbs

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

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

archosaur; archosaurian; archosaurian reptile (extinct reptiles including: dinosaurs; plesiosaurs; pterosaurs; ichthyosaurs; thecodonts)

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

ichthyosaurus (ichthyosaurs of the Jurassic)

stenopterygius; Stenopterygius quadrisicissus (an ichthyosaur of the genus Stenopterygius)

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

Ichthyosauria; order Ichthyosauria (extinct marine reptiles: ichthyosaurs)

 Context examples 

It is from a class of ancient marine creatures called ichthyosaurs, which resembled dolphins.

(Sea Monster Swam Oceans 170 Million Years Ago, Voanews)

Like other ichthyosaurs, this sea monster faded into extinction 95 million years ago, about 30 million years before the dinosaurs disappeared.

(Sea Monster Swam Oceans 170 Million Years Ago, Voanews)

It looks like it was changes in the oceans, in the chemistry and in the ecology of the oceans, and so you had a long-term willowing away of these ichthyosaurs as they became less and less common, less and less diverse, until they trickled away to extinction, and then that is when groups like sharks and ultimately whales and dolphins moved on in," said the paleontologist.

(Sea Monster Swam Oceans 170 Million Years Ago, Voanews)