rodent

noun

ro·dent | \ˈrō-dᵊnt

Definition of rodent

1 : any of an order (Rodentia) of relatively small gnawing mammals (such as a mouse, squirrel, or beaver) that have in both jaws a single pair of incisors with a chisel-shaped edge

2 : a small mammal (such as a rabbit or a shrew) other than a true rodent

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Examples of rodent in a Sentence

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So whether an animal is interested in the trash itself, or the rodents that eat it, both exist in greater quantities in cities. — Aditi Shrikant, BostonGlobe.com, "When wild animals urbanize," 13 July 2018 Do not feed wildlife on the ground; keep wild bird seed in feeders designed for birds elevated or hanging above ground, and clean up spilled seed from the ground; coyotes can either be drawn directly to the seed, or to the rodents drawn to the seed. — Dana Burke, Houston Chronicle, "Coyote caught looking for snack of garbage in Pearland neighborhood," 15 June 2018 The rodent has been able to overcome the cones and baffles placed around the feeder poles. — Jerry Shnay, Daily Southtown, "Shnay: June brings colorful birds to my yard," 11 June 2018 The rodents create huge piles of food called middens that can keep them going for several seasons—and are sometimes also discovered by future generations of squirrels. — Brian Gordon Green, National Geographic, "Why a Squirrel Stashed 50 Pounds of Pine Cones in a Car," 9 June 2018 This swampy basin would ultimately become known as the Scott Valley, but Meek's men named it Beaver Valley after its most salient resource: the rodents whose dams shaped its ponds, marshes, and meadows. — Ben Goldfarb, Science | AAAS, "Beaver dams without beavers? Artificial logjams are a popular but controversial restoration tool," 7 June 2018 The orange-toothed rodents have been blamed for destabilizing canal banks and nearby streets by eating grass roots and burrowing into the earth. — Drew Broach, NOLA.com, "Nutria in Jefferson Parish drainage canals to stay in SWAT crosshairs," 15 May 2018 Cottage said the rodents peered at the family from a drop ceiling in the bathroom. — Jason Nark, Philly.com, "Montco man gives squirrels headaches for a living," 14 May 2018 In short order, the cluster of human brain cells lashed themselves to their hosts' neurons, and the rodents' neurons appeared to return the embrace. — Melissa Healy, latimes.com, "Brainstorming the ethics of neuroscience research in the age of organoids," 27 Apr. 2018

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

History and Etymology for rodent

borrowed from the base of New Latin Rodentia, order name, from neuter plural of Latin rōdent-, rōdens, present participle of rōdere "to gnaw, nibble, eat away," perhaps going back to Indo-European *Hr̥h₃d-, *Hreh₃d-, whence also Hittite ardu- "saw (off)," Sanskrit rádati "(s/he) bites, gnaws, cuts, opens"