dire wolf
nounDefinition of dire wolf
: a large extinct wolflike mammal (Canis dirus) known from Pleistocene deposits of North America
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Their tracks are preserved in the alkali flats of the valley floor—mammoth, dire wolf, saber-toothed cat, North American camel, and giant ground sloth, all dating back to the last ice age. — Hayden Carpenter, Outside Online, "Our Next National Park Could Be in New Mexico," 3 July 2018 Riding the rails, I was beaten and killed and reported back to the dire wolf. — Harold Goldberg, BostonGlobe.com, "‘Where the Water Tastes Like Wine’ is a giant leap forward for video game storytelling," 22 Mar. 2018 Game of Spoils blocks out mentions from Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Google News and anywhere else where people are having conversations about Targaryens and dire wolves. — Chanel Vargas, Harper's BAZAAR, "How to Avoid Game of Thrones Spoilers," 13 July 2017 Among them were the remains of dire wolves, camels, horses and gophers—but the most intriguing were those belonging to an adult male mastodon. — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, "Remarkable New Evidence for Human Activity in North America 130,000 Years Ago," 26 Apr. 2017 Turn the clock back 1.8 million years, and the world was full of fantastic beasts: In North America, lions, dire wolves and giant sloths prowled the land. — Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian, "Are Humans to Blame for the Disappearance of Earth’s Fantastic Beasts?," 31 July 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dire wolf.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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