microfossil

noun

mi·​cro·​fos·​sil ˌmī-krō-ˈfä-səl 

: a small fossil that typically can be studied only microscopically and that may be either a fragment of a larger organism or an entire minute organism

Examples of microfossil in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Scientists have been able to use those pollen records to reconstruct how far the shoreline moved inland by tracking the proportion of pollen grains in the geologic record to the rise of marine microfossils. —Francisca Oboh Ikuenobe, The Conversation, 20 May 2025

Their evidence included an evocative image that seemed to show microfossils in the meteorite. —Chris Impey, The Conversation, 25 Apr. 2025

Would clues be traced to microfossils trapped within ancient Martian rocks, swim in waters of an ocean world, or lead to an Earth-like twin thought of as Planet B? —Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 19 Apr. 2025

The rover is on a quest to determine if life ever existed on Mars by collecting samples that could contain ancient microfossils. —Ashley Strickland, CNN, 12 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1924, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for microfossil

• hypoglossal
• nannofossil
• apostle
• colossal
• hydrocele
• nitrosyl
• subbasal
• docile
• fossil
• jostle