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mastodons

noun

plural of mastodon
as in whales
something or someone that is unusually large and powerful mom-and-pop stores just can't compete with these mastodons of retailing

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of mastodons For millions of years, Pacific mastodons — huge, hairy relatives of modern elephants — roamed a vast and lush range that included California, Oregon, the northern Rocky Mountains and parts of Mexico. — Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2026 Modern elephants are the only living proboscideans today — a group that once included woolly mammoths and mastodons. — Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 14 Aug. 2026 According to this theory, those now-extinct megafauna—the giant ground sloths and the giant beavers, the mastodons and mammoths, and even the lions and dire wolves—were relatively quickly hunted to extinction. — Literary Hub, 10 June 2026 Other species recovered from the cave, including mastodons and ground sloths, are rare in the region. — Hanna Wickes, Miami Herald, 29 Mar. 2026 Ground sloths and mastodons are linked to forest habitats. — Hanna Wickes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mastodons
  1. whales
  2. dinosaurs
  3. giants
  4. mammoths
  5. monsters
  6. elephants
Noun
  • Rather than insisting that these whales continue with their life, which is a human decision, perhaps they should be allowed to die gracefully and respectfully on their own.
    — Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 26 Sep. 2026
  • The Canadian government signed off on a last-minute agreement to move its last captive whales out of the country earlier this year, saving them from euthanasia.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of whales
Noun
  • Its discovery adds to our understanding of one of the world’s premier fossil deposits and what life in Illinois looked like even before dinosaurs.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 24 Sep. 2026
  • Scientists have unearthed only a handful of tracks from other dinosaurs in the wider Hell Creek Formation.
    — Taylor Nicioli, CNN Money, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of dinosaurs
Noun
  • Ruddy failed to foil the Nexstar-Tegna combination or to get a $250 million compensation fund included in an FTC settlement over an advertising-giants merger.
    — Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 24 Sep. 2026
  • The timing of the tech giants' flagship releases, days ahead of the summit, has revived debate over whether China's AI industry has hit an inflection point.
    — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of giants
Noun
  • In ancient California, they are believed to have existed alongside other extinct native species, including bison-sized Jefferson’s ground sloths, Columbian mammoths and western camels.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2026
  • See fossils of the 14-foot, 20,000-pound mammoths that used to roam around Texas.
    — Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of mammoths
Noun
  • They’re rooted in a time and place that feels all too real, and this allows the monsters to parade their primitive might in a way that means something.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 27 Sep. 2026
  • The poet, Pavese implies, is a creature of Chaos—that anarchic state in which good is mixed with bad and monsters mingle with men and gods.
    — Max Norman, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of monsters
Noun
  • The elephant would be Sheeran’s former opening act, Macklemore, who is no longer with the traveling production.
    — Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 22 Sep. 2026
  • Atari wore elephant-print pants and a purple wizard’s cloak, and kept handy a face mask emblazoned with the words what if love wins?
    — J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of elephants

Browse Nearby Words

mastodon
mastodons
masturbatory
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Cite this Entry

“Mastodons.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mastodons. Accessed 29 Sep. 2026.

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