Trilobite

//ˈtɹaɪ.ləˌbaɪt// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An extinct arthropod of the class Trilobita, whose body had three large lobes.

    "When you look at a Precambrian trilobite in the lobby of a New York bank, it is difficult to speculate about its primeval environment."

  2. 2
    an extinct arthropod that was abundant in Paleozoic times; had an exoskeleton divided into three parts wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
animaldinosaurmammoth

Example

More examples

"Trilobites fossils are arthropods, or joint-footed animals, with a segmented body of hinged plates and shields. They could curl up into a ball for protection, sometimes fossilizing as a "rolled" trilobite."

Etymology

Borrowed from translingual Trilobita. By surface analysis, tri- (“three”) + lobe + -ite (“mineral, individual”), literally “three-lober”.

Related phrases

Barr trilobitetrilobite beetle

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