TERTIARY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Tertiary mean? 

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

1. from 63 million to 2 million years ago

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

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

1. coming next after the second and just before the fourth in position

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• TERTIARY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

From 63 million to 2 million years ago

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

Tertiary; Tertiary period

Instance hypernyms:

geological period; period (a unit of geological time during which a system of rocks formed)

Meronyms (parts of "Tertiary"):

Pliocene; Pliocene epoch (from 13 million to 2 million years ago; growth of mountains; cooling of climate; more and larger mammals)

Miocene; Miocene epoch (from 25 million to 13 million years ago; appearance of grazing mammals)

Oligocene; Oligocene epoch (from 40 million to 25 million years ago; appearance of sabertoothed cats)

Eocene; Eocene epoch (from 58 million to 40 million years ago; presence of modern mammals)

Paleocene; Paleocene epoch (from 63 million to 58 million years ago; appearance of birds and earliest mammals)

Holonyms ("Tertiary" is a part of...):

Age of Mammals; Cenozoic; Cenozoic era (approximately the last 63 million years)

• TERTIARY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Coming next after the second and just before the fourth in position

Synonyms:

3rd; tertiary; third

Similar:

ordinal (being or denoting a numerical order in a series)

 Context examples 

Can be used to probe tertiary structure and non-covalent interactions (from NCSU Mass Spectrometry Facility web site)

(Electrospray Ionization, NCI Thesaurus)

A synthetic tertiary amine alkaloid with antimuscarinic properties.

(Homatropine, NCI Thesaurus)

The methylbromide salt of homatropine, a synthetic tertiary amine alkaloid with antimuscarinic properties.

(Homatropine Methylbromide, NCI Thesaurus)

The precursor undergoes cleavage to produce A/B/C chains that form tertiary structures of all three chains, or just A and B chains.

(Insulin-Like Peptide 4, NCI Thesaurus)

The structure of a DNA molecule, consisting of its primary nucleotide sequence as well as its secondary and tertiary arrangement in space.

(DNA Structure, NCI Thesaurus)

The hydrobromide salt form of homatropine, a synthetic tertiary amine alkaloid with antimuscarinic properties.

(Homatropine Hydrobromide, NCI Thesaurus)

A leucine-rich protein structural motif that forms an alpha/beta horseshoe tertiary structure.

(Leucine-Rich Repeat, NCI Thesaurus)

Late yaws is the tertiary, non-contagious stage of yaws, endemic tropical treponemal nonvenereal infection.

(Late Yaws, NCI Thesaurus)

A tertiary amine possessing antimuscarinic and antispasmodic properties.

(Oxybutynin, NCI Thesaurus)

The chloride salt form of oxybutynin, a tertiary amine and anticholinergic agent with antispasmodic activity.

(Oxybutynin Chloride, NCI Thesaurus)