Silurian

adjective

Si·​lu·​ri·​an sī-ˈlu̇r-ē-ən How to pronounce Silurian (audio)
sə-
1
: of or relating to the Silures or their place of habitation
2
: of, relating to, or being a period of the Paleozoic era between the Ordovician and Devonian or the corresponding system of rocks marked by numerous eurypterid crustaceans and the appearance of the first land plants see Geologic Time Table
Silurian noun

Examples of Silurian in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The oldest evidence of scorpions on Earth comes from the Silurian period, around 430 million years ago. Scott Travers, Forbes, 8 Sep. 2024 The first of the Big Five mass extinctions transpired about 445 million years ago, marking the boundary between the Ordovician and Silurian periods back when fish and land plants were still relatively new. Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 July 2024 New York The Eurypterus remipes is New York's state fossil, a sea scorpion from the Silurian age. Doc Louallen, USA TODAY, 6 Sep. 2023 The Silurian reef exhibit, a diorama behind glass in the current museum, will be reimagined as an immersive exhibit that people can walk through in the Time Travel gallery. Amy Schwabe, Journal Sentinel, 21 June 2023 Some scientists have suggested that the Ordovician-Silurian extinctions some 450 million years ago may have been the result of a nearby gamma-ray burst. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 17 Oct. 2022 The researchers also found that mass extinctions were rarely directly followed by radiations—the Ordovician-Silurian mass extinction happened 440 million years ago, for instance, but the data set suggests biodiversity did not rebound until more than 20 million years later. Riley Black, Scientific American, 14 Jan. 2021

Word History

Etymology

Latin Silures

First Known Use

1708, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of Silurian was in 1708

Dictionary Entries Near Silurian

Cite this Entry

“Silurian.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Silurian. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

Silurian

adjective
Si·​lu·​ri·​an sī-ˈlu̇r-ē-ən How to pronounce Silurian (audio)
sə-
: of, relating to, or being a period of the Paleozoic era of geological history marked by the first appearance of land plants
also : relating to the corresponding system of rocks see geologic time
Silurian noun
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