What does "mesozoic" mean?

Of a geologic era within the Phanerozoic eon that comprises the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods from about 230 to 65 million years ago, when life on earth was dominated by reptiles.

What is a synonym for "mesozoic"?

Common synonyms include: age of reptiles, mesozoic era, period, time.

Mesozoic

adj, name

adj, name ·4 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1
Of a geologic era within the Phanerozoic eon that comprises the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods from about 230 to 65 million years ago, when life on earth was dominated by reptiles.

Adjective

1
of or relating to or denoting the Mesozoic era wordnet

Proper Noun

1
The Mesozoic era.
"The whole history of the earth is divided into five eras, with corresponding rock-systems. These are: 1. Archæan or Eozoic¹ era, embodied in the Laurentian system; 2. Palæozoic² era, embodied in the Palæozoic or Primary system; 3. Mesozoic³ era, recorded in the Secondary system; 4. Cenozoic,⁴ recorded in the Tertiary and Quaternary systems; and, 5. The Psychozoic era, or era of Mind, recorded in the recent system."

Synonyms

All synonyms

age of reptiles mesozoic era period time

Example

More examples

"Plesiosaurs are large marine reptiles from the Mesozoic Era."

Etymology

From meso- + -zoic.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.