fossiliferous

adjective

fos·​sil·​if·​er·​ous ˌfä-sə-ˈli-f(ə-)rəs How to pronounce fossiliferous (audio)
: containing fossils

Examples of fossiliferous in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Alas, quarrying explosives had blown apart the fossiliferous layers of rock, splintering many of the bones. Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 19 Dec. 2018 The material came from the famously fossiliferous Aust Cliff, and, like the Somerset specimen, is from the Late Triassic's Rhaetian Age, about 201-208 million years ago. Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 9 Apr. 2018 Researchers working in northeastern Wyoming, in the fossiliferous Black Hills region, found a bunch of dinosaur bones. Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 24 July 2018 The 100-million-year-old toe bit is not new to science; it was found in 1999 during an excavation of Morocco's famously fossiliferous Kem Kem Beds and sat on a museum shelf in Milan for nearly 20 years. Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 31 May 2018 The key to unraveling the mystery is in the fossiliferous demographics of the Shonisaurus preserved in quarry 2. Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Dec. 2022 Many different lines of evidence have become involved in this fossiliferous sleuthing. Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 July 2022 The sheer pressure put on Ammonite to fulfill our fossiliferous expectations says something about our current moment in science. Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Aug. 2020 And that’s just from the fossiliferous rocks that have been explored so far. Riley Black, Smithsonian, 31 July 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fossiliferous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1829, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of fossiliferous was in 1829

Dictionary Entries Near fossiliferous

Cite this Entry

“Fossiliferous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fossiliferous. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

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