noun
velociraptor
vuh-lo-sih-RAPT
noun
1
A small, fast-moving meat-eating dinosaur with sickle-shaped claws, known from fossils found in Mongolia and China dating to the late Cretaceous period, roughly 71-75 million years ago.
"Fossil evidence suggests the velociraptor was covered in feathers."
"Museum displays often show the velociraptor hunting in packs, though this is debated among paleontologists."
How to Use Velociraptor
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA small, quick, clawed dinosaur, made far more famous by movies than by its actual (much smaller) real-life size.
Common mistake
The Jurassic Park movie velociraptors are roughly human-sized; real velociraptor fossils show an animal closer to the size of a turkey.
Word Forms
velociraptors plural
Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Flow — saved to your collection.
Test yourself on “velociraptor”
A quick quiz — meaning, synonyms & usage
→
Fill the Gap
Can you complete this real example?
Fossil evidence suggests the _____ was covered in feathers.
Etymology
From New Latin Velociraptor, combining Latin vēlōx ("swift") and raptor ("thief, plunderer"). The film Jurassic Park popularised a larger, more human-sized depiction based on a related dinosaur, Deinonychus, after some paleontologists argued the two genera should be merged.