Thylacine

//ˈθailəsiːn// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A carnivorous marsupial (†Thylacinus cynocephalus) which was native to Tasmania, now extinct.

    "[…]high up on an overhanging rock, perhaps twenty feet above the ground, a ghostly white thylacine was clearly visible. Thylacines, or Tasmanian tigers, have been extinct on the mainland of Australia for at least two thousand years."

  2. 2
    rare doglike carnivorous marsupial of Tasmania having stripes on its back; probably extinct wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
tasmanian tigertasmanian wolfkaparuninatasmanian hyenatasmanian tigerthylacinus cynocephalus

Example

More examples

"The thylacine is an extinct animal."

Etymology

From translingual Thylacinus; from Ancient Greek θύλακος (thúlakos, “pouch, sack”) + Latin -inus (-ine).

Related phrases

sarcophilus harrisiithylacinus cynocephalus

More for "thylacine"

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.