brontosaurus

noun bron·to·sau·rus \ ˌbrän-tə-ˈsȯr-əs \

variants: or less commonly brontosaur play \ˈbrän-tə-ˌsȯr\

|Updated on: 20 Jun 2018

Definition of brontosaurus

: any of a genus (Apatosaurus) of very large sauropod dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic : apatosaurus

Note: The name brontosaurus continues to be commonly used for these dinosaurs even though their former genus name (Brontosaurus) is considered invalid.

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Recent Examples of brontosaurus from the Web

There’s a scene in Fallen Kingdom that will stay with me for a little while: a lone brontosaurus, standing on a shore nearly engulfed in ash and flame, stretching its long neck up to the sky and braying out a mournful plaint.

— richard lawson, HWD, "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," 5 June 2018
Their bestselling Freel Shorts, which come in pineapple, cactus, or brontosaurus prints, have nearly sold out.

— megan michelson, Outside Online, "Wild Rye Is Making Our Favorite Women's MTB Apparel," 17 May 2018
Different footprints had been found three years earlier, ones that date back 170 million years and survived as evidence of giant sauropods–likely ancestors of the later brontosaurus–that would wander through the isle's lagoons.

— eric limer, Popular Mechanics, "Dozens of Pristine Dino Footprints Found on Island in Scotland," 3 Apr. 2018
The group with reptile-like hips is called Saurischia (saw-RIS’-kee-a), and includes the brontosaurus.

— seth borenstein, The Denver Post, "New idea shakes up dinosaur family tree for T. Rex and pals," 23 Mar. 2017
NEW HAVEN- 4/14/15-hc-brontosaurus-renaming-0415- Leo Vanags of West Hartford looks up at the Brontosaurus in the Great Hall with his grandmother, Janet Vanags of Tifton, Ga, right, Tuesday.

— korky vann, courant.com, "Peabody Hosts Free Thursday Afternoons In June," 1 June 2017
Minds of Their Own A design, like the silhouette of a brontosaurus, is input into a computer and the robots immediately start positioning themselves and changing color to recreate that image in physical form.

— joseph flaherty, WIRED, "Disney Invents Robots That Swarm Into Colorful Animations," 9 May 2014

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'brontosaurus.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.