saurian

noun

sau·​ri·​an ˈsȯr-ē-ən 

: any of a suborder (Sauria) of reptiles including the lizards and in older classifications the crocodiles and various extinct forms (such as the dinosaurs and ichthyosaurs) that resemble lizards

saurian adjective

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

During the great Age of Reptiles when dinosaurs ruled the land, there were also fantastic saurian in the seas. —Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Dec. 2020

Every saurian in the river, and a hundred or two from the Luangwa itself, therefore, came to dine on the defunct hippo. —Warren Page, Field & Stream, 13 Nov. 2020

Texas' alligator population, down to just a few thousand barely a half-century ago, currently stands at as many as a half-million, with the wetland-dependent saurians documented in 123 of the state's 254 counties. —Craig Hlavaty, Houston Chronicle, 24 May 2018

Owen concluded that Megalosaurus, Iguanodon and a third species called Hylaeosaurus were all united by skeletal similarities in the hip to the exclusion of other saurians of the same time. —Brian Switek, Smithsonian, 8 Dec. 2017

Dozens of schlock horror movies have banked on the terror of being snaffled up by the toothy saurians, but the reptilian ambush predators of Olduvai Gorge actually did paleontologists a valuable service. —Brian Switek, Smithsonian, 30 Jan. 2017

This creature was a connecting point between saurians and birds, but where to draw the line? —Brian Switek, Scientific American Blog Network, 8 May 2017

The fossils were originally excavated in the 1934 and briefly described nine years later, but experts didn't realize the significance of the saurian until the new study. —Brian Switek, Scientific American Blog Network, 5 May 2017

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Word History

Etymology

New Latin Sauria, from New Latin saurus lizard, from Greek sauros

First Known Use

1824, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

saurian

noun

sau·​ri·​an ˈsȯr-ē-ən 

: any of a group of reptiles including the lizards and in older classifications the crocodiles and various extinct forms (as the dinosaurs) that look like lizards

saurian adjective