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Glite Dictionary
family Varanidae

family Varanidae

8.9
A group of large lizards that eat meat, like the Komodo dragon
  • noun
  • /ˈfæmɪli ˈvɛrənɪdeɪ/
  • Specialized
: familia Varanidae
  • Such a display of intelligence in monitor lizards, the animals of the family Varanidae, is not unusual.

Examples

  • The family Varanidae includes the famous Komodo dragon, which can grow to be quite large.

  • That work alone has increased the species count of the family Varanidae by about 25 percent.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Scientists study the behavior of the family Varanidae to understand their hunting strategies.

  • The family Varanidae is known for its impressive speed and agility while hunting prey.

Synonyms

Varanidae
vsfamily Varanidae
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A family of large lizards that eat meat and live in Africa, Asia and Australia

is stated as found in those regions rather than described as native there

Surface Forms

family Varanidae singular
families Varanidae plural

Morphology

family + Varanidae

The phrase is a straightforward noun phrase combining 'family' (a taxonomic grouping) with the taxon name 'Varanidae', so its meaning — the taxonomic family that includes monitor lizards — is directly derivable from the constituents. This pattern (family + taxon name) is cross-linguistically regular in scientific naming, making it immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

Family Varanidae comes from the genus Varanus, a name that probably comes from the Arabic word 'waran' for a monitor lizard. People also called these big lizards 'monitors' because they seemed to warn people of danger, so today family Varanidae is the name for the group of large, meat-eating monitor lizards like the Komodo dragon.