dinosaur

dinosaur — noun

1. a group of reptiles that roamed Earth in ancient times, long before humans appea

1.nounA2
Definition

a group of reptiles that roamed Earth in ancient times, long before humans appeared, and are now entirely extinct; they ranged from chicken-sized creatures to enormous long-necked plant-eaters and included famous predators like the Tyrannosaurus rex

Example

The children at the museum gasped when they saw the dinosaur skeleton.

collocation: dinosaur skeleton

Many scientists believe a giant asteroid caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

extinction of the dinosaurs

Common collocations
  • dinosaur skeleton
  • dinosaur fossil
  • dinosaur species
  • dinosaur extinction
  • dinosaur bone

Usage Note

Dinosaurs are divided into two main groups: bird-hipped (ornithischians) and lizard-hipped (saurischians). Most learners only need the general meaning — scientific subcategories are rarely needed in everyday English.

Common Mistakes

That flying reptile is a dinosaur.
That flying reptile is a pterosaur, not a dinosaur.
Pterosaurs and marine reptiles like ichthyosaurs lived at the same time as dinosaurs but are not classified as dinosaurs.
All dinosaurs were huge.
Not all dinosaurs were huge
some were as small as a chicken.' — The group included many small species alongside the famous giants.

2. an informal label for anyone or anything regarded as hopelessly outdated and unf

2.nounB2
Definition

an informal label for anyone or anything regarded as hopelessly outdated and unfit for current times — someone who clings to old methods, or an object so old it has lost all practical use

Example

My uncle uses a flip phone and is a complete dinosaur with technology.

informal: be a complete dinosaur

The board called Amihan's proposal a dinosaur from a bygone era.

Common collocations
  • complete dinosaur
  • old dinosaur
  • technological dinosaur
Synonyms
  • fossil

    more informal and humorous; suggests someone is very old and set in their ways

  • relic

    focuses on something that belongs to a past time; slightly more neutral in tone

  • has-been

    applies mainly to people who were once successful but no longer are; more personal and insulting

Antonyms
  • trendsetter

    someone who leads new styles or ideas

  • modern

    adjective describing something current and up-to-date

Usage Note

The tone is usually critical or dismissive. Avoid using it to describe older people you respect — it can sound rude. Best reserved for things (technology, methods, rules) or for self-deprecating humour.

Common Mistakes

My grandfather is a dinosaur and I love him dearly.
My grandfather has old-fashioned ideas about music, but I love him dearly.
Calling someone a 'dinosaur' is dismissive and disrespectful when you also want to express affection.
This computer is a dinosaur because it is three years old.
This computer is a dinosaur
it cannot run any modern software.' — The word means old AND no longer useful, not simply old.

Word family

  • dinosaurian
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/2

All four words describe something or someone outdated, but the tone differs. 'Dinosaur' is the most common and can refer to people, technology, or institutions; it carries mild mockery but is often used playfully ('I feel like a dinosaur when I ask for a paper map'). 'Fossil' is more informal and focuses on extreme age and inflexibility ('Professor Okonkwo is a fossil who still grades by hand'). 'Relic' is slightly more neutral and emphasizes that something belongs to a past era ('The fax machine is a relic of the 1990s'). 'Has-been' applies only to people who were once successful but no longer are; it is more personal and insulting ('The singer is dismissed as a has-been'). Choose 'dinosaur' for general use, 'fossil' for humorous exaggeration, 'relic' for neutral descriptions of old objects, and avoid 'has-been' unless you intend to be cutting.

dinosaur ↗fossil ↗relichas-been

Common collocations

Nouns

  • dinosaur fossil
  • dinosaur skeleton
  • dinosaur species
  • dinosaur extinction

Prepositions

  • dinosaur from [era]
  • dinosaur of [group]

Etymology

GreekEnglish

Coined in 1842 by English biologist Sir Richard Owen from the Greek 'deinos' meaning 'terrible, frightful' and 'sauros' meaning 'lizard'. Owen created the name to describe the large fossil bones being discovered in England, intending 'terrible lizard' in the sense of 'fearsomely large', not 'bad at being a lizard'.