Australopithecine

adj, noun

adj, noun ·6 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative letter-case form of australopithecine. alt-of
  2. 2
    Any of several extinct hominids, belonging to the genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus in the subtribe Australopithecina when seen as distinct, and sometimes other closely related genera.

    "It is as if there were enshrined in these legends a racial memory of the Australopithicines who came close but never did make it to full humanity."

  3. 3
    any of several extinct humanlike bipedal primates with relatively small brains of the genus Australopithecus; from 1 to 4 million years ago wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Alternative letter-case form of australopithecine. alt-of, not-comparable
  2. 2
    Of or pertaining to these hominids.
Adjective
  1. 1
    of or belonging to the hominid genus Australopithecus wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
australopithaustralopith

Example

More examples

""Life is a gift God gave you." "No, it was my parents who gave me it." "Yes, but who gave it to the first human?" "An australopithecine.""

Etymology

Originally in reference to a now-obsolete subfamily Australopithecinae, formed in New Latin, from Latin austrālis (“southern”) + Ancient Greek πίθηκος (píthēkos, “ape”).

Related phrases

gracile australopithecinerobust australopithecine

More for "australopithecine"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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