Definitions for Cretaceous
krɪˈteɪ ʃəscre·ta·ceous

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Cretaceous, Cretaceous periodadjective

   from 135 million to 63 million years ago; end of the age of reptiles; appearance of modern insects and flowering plants

2. cretaceousadjective

   abounding in chalk

3. Cretaceousadjective

   of or relating to or denoting the third period of the Mesozoic era

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Cretaceousnoun

   The geologic period within the Mesozoic era that comprises lower and upper epochs from about 146 to 65 million years ago

2. cretaceousadjective

   Of or relating to chalk.

3. cretaceousadjective

   Consisting of chalk.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. CRETACEOUSadjective

   Abounding with chalk; having the qualities of chalk; chalky.

   Etymology: creta, chalk, Lat.

   What gives the light, seems hard to say; whether it be the cretaceous salt, the nitrous salt, or some igneous particles. Nehemiah Grew.

   Nor from the fable ground expect success,
   Nor from cretaceous, stubborn and jejune. Philips.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Cretaceous

   The Cretaceous ( krih-TAY-shəs) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of the entire Phanerozoic. The name is derived from the Latin creta, "chalk", which is abundant in the latter half of the period. It is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation Kreide. The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct marine reptiles, ammonites, and rudists, while dinosaurs continued to dominate on land. The world was ice free, and forests extended to the poles. During this time, new groups of mammals and birds appeared. During the Early Cretaceous, flowering plants appeared and began to rapidly diversify, becoming the dominant group of plants across the Earth by the end of the Cretaceous, coincident with the decline and extinction of previously widespread gymnosperm groups. The Cretaceous (along with the Mesozoic) ended with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, a large mass extinction in which many groups, including non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and large marine reptiles, died out. The end of the Cretaceous is defined by the abrupt Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (K–Pg boundary), a geologic signature associated with the mass extinction that lies between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. cretaceous

   The Cretaceous is a geologic period and system that spans 79 million years from the end of the Jurassic Period 145 million years ago to the beginning of the Paleogene Period 66 million years ago. It is the last period of the Mesozoic Era and is famous for being the time of the dinosaurs. The name Cretaceous comes from the Latin word "creta" which means chalk, referring to the chalky composition of much of the sedimentary rocks from this period.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Cretaceousadjective

   having the qualities of chalk; abounding with chalk; chalky; as, cretaceous rocks and formations. See Chalk

2. Etymology: [L. cretaceus, fr. creta chalk. See Crayon.]

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Cretaceous

   The Cretaceous, derived from the Latin "creta", usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide, is a geologic period and system from circa 145 ± 4 to 66 million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the Cenozoic era. It is the last period of the Mesozoic Era, and, spanning 79 million years, the longest period of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels and creating numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now extinct marine reptiles, ammonites and rudists, while dinosaurs continued to dominate on land. At the same time, new groups of mammals and birds, as well as flowering plants, appeared. The Cretaceous ended with a large mass extinction, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, in which many groups, including non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs and large marine reptiles, died out. The end of the Cretaceous is defined by the K–Pg boundary, a geologic signature associated with the mass extinction which lies between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Cretaceous

   krē-tā′shus, adj. composed of or like chalk.—adj. Crē′tāted, rubbed with chalk.—n. Cretifac′tion.—v.i. Crē′tify, to become impregnated with salts of lime. [L. cretaceus, from creta, chalk.]

EntomologyRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Cretaceous

   chalky white: the third, uppermost and latest of the three great divisions of the mesozoic or secondary rocks.

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

1. [["1658","3"],["1700","1"],["1704","4"],["1705","1"],["1708","2"],["1715","1"],["1726","11"],["1732","1"],["1737","1"],["1741","2"],["1742","2"],["1745","4"],["1746","1"],["1748","2"],["1750","2"],["1751","1"],["1753","1"],["1755","2"],["1756","6"],["1757","24"],["1758","9"],["1764","1"],["1765","1"],["1767","4"],["1769","5"],["1770","7"],["1772","2"],["1773","26"],["1774","3"],["1776","5"],["1780","3"],["1781","2"],["1783","1"],["1784","1"],["1785","4"],["1786","2"],["1787","3"],["1788","510"],["1789","3"],["1790","26"],["1791","7"],["1792","3"],["1793","2"],["1794","13"],["1795","2"],["1796","21"],["1797","5"],["1798","4"],["1799","9"],["1800","15"],["1801","16"],["1802","3"],["1803","27"],["1804","56"],["1805","11"],["1806","4"],["1807","8"],["1808","8"],["1809","26"],["1810","5"],["1811","19"],["1812","24"],["1813","7"],["1814","8"],["1815","32"],["1816","15"],["1817","36"],["1818","24"],["1819","11"],["1820","11"],["1821","14"],["1822","70"],["1823","14"],["1824","46"],["1825","32"],["1826","11"],["1827","14"],["1828","61"],["1829","65"],["1830","61"],["1831","44"],["1832","262"],["1833","603"],["1834","311"],["1835","155"],["1836","112"],["1837","397"],["1838","524"],["1839","367"],["1840","128"],["1841","571"],["1842","262"],["1843","139"],["1844","285"],["1845","658"],["1846","385"],["1847","553"],["1848","446"],["1849","476"],["1850","666"],["1851","946"],["1852","563"],["1853","604"],["1854","755"],["1855","1403"],["1856","562"],["1857","760"],["1858","555"],["1859","504"],["1860","601"],["1861","321"],["1862","216"],["1863","533"],["1864","129"],["1865","802"],["1866","749"],["1867","329"],["1868","753"],["1869","333"],["1870","935"],["1871","587"],["1872","400"],["1873","548"],["1874","398"],["1875","353"],["1876","481"],["1877","305"],["1878","480"],["1879","356"],["1880","473"],["1881","503"],["1882","584"],["1883","538"],["1884","251"],["1885","515"],["1886","343"],["1887","321"],["1888","924"],["1889","433"],["1890","270"],["1891","252"],["1892","351"],["1893","561"],["1894","449"],["1895","338"],["1896","445"],["1897","373"],["1898","288"],["1899","314"],["1900","339"],["1901","344"],["1902","317"],["1903","217"],["1904","240"],["1905","259"],["1906","314"],["1907","239"],["1908","299"],["1909","302"],["1910","340"],["1911","329"],["1912","334"],["1913","168"],["1914","198"],["1915","183"],["1916","119"],["1917","121"],["1918","213"],["1919","176"],["1920","177"],["1921","114"],["1922","133"],["1923","132"],["1924","104"],["1925","154"],["1926","93"],["1927","107"],["1928","107"],["1929","101"],["1930","76"],["1931","98"],["1932","69"],["1933","141"],["1934","68"],["1935","104"],["1936","80"],["1937","45"],["1938","133"],["1939","83"],["1940","66"],["1941","41"],["1942","57"],["1943","37"],["1944","44"],["1945","113"],["1946","47"],["1947","95"],["1948","104"],["1949","99"],["1950","86"],["1951","87"],["1952","100"],["1953","57"],["1954","170"],["1955","91"],["1956","91"],["1957","249"],["1958","93"],["1959","91"],["1960","138"],["1961","135"],["1962","190"],["1963","192"],["1964","206"],["1965","237"],["1966","156"],["1967","156"],["1968","199"],["1969","202"],["1970","291"],["1971","258"],["1972","167"],["1973","154"],["1974","177"],["1975","352"],["1976","180"],["1977","213"],["1978","229"],["1979","203"],["1980","440"],["1981","142"],["1982","188"],["1983","164"],["1984","174"],["1985","233"],["1986","179"],["1987","163"],["1988","143"],["1989","210"],["1990","146"],["1991","173"],["1992","210"],["1993","187"],["1994","248"],["1995","159"],["1996","176"],["1997","204"],["1998","220"],["1999","194"],["2000","258"],["2001","319"],["2002","239"],["2003","398"],["2004","469"],["2005","353"],["2006","452"],["2007","679"],["2008","1778"]]

How to pronounce Cretaceous?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say Cretaceous in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of Cretaceous in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of Cretaceous in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of Cretaceous in a Sentence

1. Pavel Stoev:

   Prior to our study, there were only four species of millipedes described from Burmese amber, which is known to be among the oldest and richest amber deposits of Cretaceous fauna.

2. Zoltan Csiki-Sava:

   Data collection concerning end-Cretaceous dinosaurs happened to start at about the same time in both Europe and North America – around the middle of the 19th century, it is only by chance (a combination between mainly better rock availability and more human effort poured into this line of research) that the North American fossil record grew more rapidly and soon become the best one in the world for that particular time period. As such, it captured attention and was used as a template to understand end-Cretaceous extinction. The data was harder to gather in other continents, including Europe, and the resolution of the European fossil record is still far from that coming from North America. But its growth is spectacular (we know probably twice as much about late Cretaceous fossil vertebrates from Europe then we knew like 20 years ago), and that is due to the activity of a large number of mainly young researchers working all across Europe.

3. Darla Zelenitsky:

   Such nesting colonies would have been a sight to see back in the Cretaceous where the landscape would have been dotted by a huge number of large dinosaur nests.

4. Matija Cuk:

   But that fact allows us to use computer simulations to tease out the history of Saturn’s inner moons, doing so, we find that they were most likely born during the most recent 2 percent of the planet’s history. Related : Saturn's largest moon Titan is bursting with color Researchers had long thought Saturn’s rings were as old as the planet itself. But that thinking changed in 2012, when French astronomers found that tidal effects – the gravitational interaction of the inner moons with fluids deep in Saturn’s interior – are causing them to spiral to larger orbital radii comparatively quickly. The implication, given their present positions, is that these moons, and presumably the rings, are not so old. That still did n’t answer exactly when they were born. Cuk and his team turned to results from NASA’s Cassini mission, which has observed ice geysers on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Assuming that the energy powering these geysers comes directly from tidal interactions and that Enceladus ’ level of geothermal activity is more or less constant, then the tides within Saturn are quite strong. According to the team’s analysis, these would move the satellite by the small amount indicated by the simulations in only about 100 million years. Related : Cassini probe takes' cosmic bulls-eye' of Saturn moons Enceladus, Tethys This would date the formation of the major moons of Saturn, with the exception of more distant Titan and Iapetus, to the relatively recent Cretaceous Period, the era of the dinosaurs.

5. Martin Lockley:

   The concentration of mammal tracks on this site is orders of magnitude higher than any other site in the world, i don't think I've ever seen a slab this size, which is a couple of square meters, where you have over 70 footprints of so many different types. This is the mother lode of Cretaceous mammal tracks.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=Cretaceous
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Cretaceous
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=Cretaceous
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Cretaceous
7. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=Cretaceous
8. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=Cretaceous
9. ^ Entomology
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22748/22748-h/22748-h.htm#:~:text=Cretaceous
10. ^ Usage in printed sources
    https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Cretaceous