Cretaceous

//kɹəˈteɪ.ʃəs// adj, name

adj, name ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or relating to chalk. not-comparable
  2. 2
    Consisting of chalk. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    of or relating to or denoting the third period of the Mesozoic era wordnet
  2. 2
    abounding in chalk wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The geologic period within the Mesozoic era that comprises lower and upper epochs from about 146 to 66 million years ago.

    "As with the Lejeuneaceae, this pattern of massive speciation appears to be correlated with the Cretaceous explosion of the angiosperms and the simultaneous creation of a host of new microenvironments, differing in humidity, light intensity, texture, etc."

Synonyms

All synonyms
chalkycretaceous periodfrostedfrostygrizzledgrizzly

Example

More examples

"The first dinosaurs were modestly sized, a far cry from the immense dinosaurs of the subsequent Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Specific use of cretaceous.

Etymology 2

From Latin cretaceus (“chalky”), from Latin creta.

Related phrases

end-Cretaceous

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