Crossopterygian

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One of the Crossopterygii.
  2. 2
    any fish of the order Crossopterygii; most known only in fossil form wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or pertaining to the Crossopterygii, an infraclass of bony fish. not-comparable

    "One consequence was that the crossopterygian fishes (distantly related to the famous ‘living fossil’ coelacanth Latimeria) were dethroned from their privileged position as ancestors."

Synonyms

All synonyms
animaldinosaurlobe finned fishlobe-finned fishlobefinmammoth

Example

More examples

"One consequence was that the crossopterygian fishes (distantly related to the famous ‘living fossil’ coelacanth Latimeria) were dethroned from their privileged position as ancestors."

Etymology

From Crossopterygia + -an, Greek krossoí “tassels, fringe” + -o- + pterýgion “little wing or fin,” equivalent to pteryg- (stem of pterýx) “wing, fin” + -ion + -an.

Related phrases

bony fish

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