macrodontadj.
/ˈmakrə(ʊ)dɒnt/, U.S. /ˈmækrəˌdɑnt/ 1. Chiefly Physical Anthropology. Having large teeth.
ΚΠ
1880 T. H. Huxley in Proc. Zool. Soc. 248 In the group A the sectorial teeth are relatively smaller than in the group B, so that it may be convenient to speak of the one as microdont and the other as macrodont Alopecoids.
1881 W. H. Flower in Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 10 162 Variation in the size of the maxilla itself; macrognathism being generally found in the macrodont, or large-toothed races.
1892 Amer. Naturalist 26 467 The Andamanese, Melanasions [sic], Australians and Tasmanians are ‘macrodont’.
1903 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 10 136 The proportion so expressed enabled him [sc. William Flower] to classify the races of man into three groups, the Macrodont, the Mesodont, and the Microdont.
1983 Current Anthropol. 24 243 In the main the macrodont cluster has its source in Australia and Melanesia.
2. Physical Anthropology and Dentistry. Of a tooth: relatively or abnormally large.
ΚΠ
1948 Man 48 77/2 The Krapina teeth are characteristically macrodont.
1960 Current Anthropol. 1 213/1 The teeth of the Ternifine peoples are relatively macrodont, as in the case of most other early Middle Pleistocene hominids.
1989 Brit. Jrnl. Orthodontics 16 273/1 Reduction in tooth size, by interdental stripping, may be carried out at the commencement of treatment. This treatment applies particularly to macrodont teeth.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1880