Meaning

2 senses

  1. Extinct elephant-like mammal of the genus †Mammut that flourished worldwide from Miocene through Pleistocene times; differs from elephants and mammoths in the form of the molar teeth.

    Mastodon

    мастодо́нтmastodónt

    extinct elephant-like mammal that flourished worldwide from Miocene through Pleistocene times; differ from mammoths in the form of the molar teeth

  2. (figuratively)Anything awkwardly large or unwieldy.

Examples

3 sentences

  1. Mastodon is a federated free and open-source social network.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · Miktsoanit · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. The mastodons are extinct.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · shekitten · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. Aviva plays in a Mastodon tribute band.

    CC0 · Tatoeba · shekitten · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

7 languages
Русский
By meaning 1
extinct elephant-like mammal of the genus Mammut:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
extinct elephant-like mammal of the genus Mammut:

Origin

First attested 1813, from translingual Mastodon (1806), coined by French naturalist George

First attested 1813, from translingual Mastodon (1806), coined by French naturalist Georges Cuvier, from masto- (“breast”) + -odon (“tooth”), due to the mammilloid (“nipple-shaped”) projections on the crowns of the extinct mammal's molars.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: mastodons

Synonyms

2 synonyms
incognitum
Close in meaning
  • extinct elephant-like mammal that flourished worldwide from Miocene through Pleistocene times; differ from mammoths in the form of the molar teeth:mastodont

Word family

9 related words
Relatedamastiaglyptodongynecomastiamastoidmastosorthodontistperiodontal
Derivedmastodonianmastodonic

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
mastermindmasterpieceB2masteryB2masturbatemasturbationmat
mastodon — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto