SINCE 1828
type specimen
nounDefinition of type specimen
: a specimen or individual designated as type of a species or lesser group and serving as the final criterion of the characteristics of that group
Examples of type specimen in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Prasad has ruled out donating his type specimens—which defined new species of dinosaurs and early mammals—to his own University of Delhi, one of the best in the nation. — Sanjay Kumar, Science | AAAS, "India’s paleontologists fight destruction of its fossil riches," 4 Apr. 2018 But since Linnaeus’ body was never exhumed from its resting place in Sweden, his posthumous status as the human type specimen is more of a formality than a practicality. — Ellen Airhart, WIRED, "How Wikipedia Portrayed Humanity in a Single Photo," 10 Mar. 2018 Neither the photographer nor the subjects agreed to provide our digital type specimens. — Ellen Airhart, WIRED, "How Wikipedia Portrayed Humanity in a Single Photo," 10 Mar. 2018 But having the type specimen from the greater Miami area is still pretty cool. — Jenny Staletovich, miamiherald, "Florida has four new wasps. One rare species got a name just for Marlins’ fans," 19 Jan. 2018 Many of the researchers carry sophisticated species databases with them on their laptop computers, including photos of type specimens. — Richard Conniff, Smithsonian, "A New Age of Discovery Is Happening Right Now in the Remote Forests of Suriname," 29 Mar. 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'type specimen.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on type specimen
What made you want to look up type specimen? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
What did you just call me?! A Quiz
-
- If a member of the audience describes your speech as bombastic, does that person mean it is:
Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZ
Share type specimen
Resources for type specimen