non-avian dinosaur

noun

variants or nonavian dinosaur

plural non-avian dinosaurs or nonavian dinosaurs

: any dinosaur that is not a bird

These new data show that certain non-avian dinosaurs and early birds shed their skin in ways very similar to that of modern birds and mammals.—

Hanneke Meijer

Following a mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period some 65 million years ago, an event that drove non-avian dinosaurs extinct, the size and diversity of mammals exploded over a 15-million-year period, researchers say.—

Pete Spotts

Whereas the last of the nonavian dinosaurs certainly perished 64.5 million years ago, many other animals survived …—

James Gurney

compare avian dinosaur

Word History

First Known Use

1988, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of non-avian dinosaur was in 1988

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Non-avian dinosaur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/non-avian%20dinosaur. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.

Copy Citation