megalosaur
- noun
- /ˈmɛɡəloʊsɔr/
- "Fossils of megalosaurs have provided important insights into the behavior and feeding habits of large predatory dinosaurs."
Examples
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Excuse me, but the mandible crest of Cindy's alleged plesiosaur is actually that of a male megalosaur, as defined by last week's World Congress of Paleontologists
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"Megalosaurs were among the largest carnivorous megalosaurs, often stalking their prey in the dense forests of the Jurassic period."
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"Scientists believe that megalosaurs used their strong jaws and sharp teeth to hunt smaller dinosaurs during the late Jurassic."
Synonyms
A large meat-eating dinosaur that walked on two legs like Allosaurus from long ago
A large meat-eating dinosaur that walked on two legs in Europe long ago
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
megalosaur = dinosaur (opaque) = megalo + saur
The components 'megalo' and 'saur' are not standalone English words and require specific knowledge of Greek roots.
Etymology
Megalosaur comes from Greek parts mega- meaning 'large' and saur meaning 'lizard', and it even shares saur with dinosaur, which helps you remember it was a very big lizard-like animal. So, the name tells us it was a large, meat-eating dinosaur.