of, denoting, or formed in the fourth epoch of the Tertiary period, between the Oligocene and Pliocene epochs, which lasted for 19 million years
noun
2. the Miocene
Word origin
C19: from Greek meiōn less + -cene
Miocene in American English
(ˈmaɪoʊˌsin; ˈmaɪəˌsin)
adjective
[sometimesm-]
designating or of the first geologic epoch of the Neogene, characterized by the joining of what are now Africa, Arabia, and Eurasia and the development of manlike apes