mosasaur
noun
mo·sa·saur ˈmō-zə-ˌsȯr 
: any of a family (Mosasauridae) of very large extinct marine fish-eating lizards of the Upper Cretaceous with limbs modified into paddles that are related to the recent monitor lizards
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Last month, paleontologists from the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas unearthed fossils near the North Sulphur River of a mosasaur, a 30-foot marine lizard that existed around 80 million years ago. 
Ariana Garcia, Chron, 23 Aug. 2022 The Paleo Lab team made great progress on the Ovilla #mosasaur block over the past week. Ariana Garcia, Chron, 2 Aug. 2022 Ron Tykoski, the Perot Museum's director of paleontology and curator of vertebrae paleontology, told the Morning News that during the mosasaur's time, most of Central Texas was underwater. Ariana Garcia, Chron, 2 Aug. 2022 From a swimming Tyrannosaurus rex to the grooming habits of a gigantic marine reptile mosasaur, audiences should get ready to have their minds blown during the five-episode series, which debuts new episodes daily beginning Monday on Apple TV+. John Benson, cleveland, 23 May 2022 The first mosasaur vertebrae of the day was found sitting on a pedestal by Benji Deason of Trussville. Dennis Pillion | Dpillion@al.com, al, 9 Dec. 2021 Paleontologists believe the largest mosasaur yet discovered would have been about 56 feet long. Dennis Pillion | Dpillion@al.com, al, 9 Dec. 2021 The mosasaur uncovered in North Dakota was a large one, identified as either Prognathodon or Mosasaurus in the new paper. Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Nov. 2021 Bailey and other fossils are much more likely to find a tooth or even a fragment of jawbone from a mosasaur as happened on one of the excursions in early July. Dennis Pillion | Dpillion@al.com, al, 5 Aug. 2021 See More
Ariana Garcia, Chron, 23 Aug. 2022 The Paleo Lab team made great progress on the Ovilla #mosasaur block over the past week. Ariana Garcia, Chron, 2 Aug. 2022 Ron Tykoski, the Perot Museum's director of paleontology and curator of vertebrae paleontology, told the Morning News that during the mosasaur's time, most of Central Texas was underwater. Ariana Garcia, Chron, 2 Aug. 2022 From a swimming Tyrannosaurus rex to the grooming habits of a gigantic marine reptile mosasaur, audiences should get ready to have their minds blown during the five-episode series, which debuts new episodes daily beginning Monday on Apple TV+. John Benson, cleveland, 23 May 2022 The first mosasaur vertebrae of the day was found sitting on a pedestal by Benji Deason of Trussville. Dennis Pillion | Dpillion@al.com, al, 9 Dec. 2021 Paleontologists believe the largest mosasaur yet discovered would have been about 56 feet long. Dennis Pillion | Dpillion@al.com, al, 9 Dec. 2021 The mosasaur uncovered in North Dakota was a large one, identified as either Prognathodon or Mosasaurus in the new paper. Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Nov. 2021 Bailey and other fossils are much more likely to find a tooth or even a fragment of jawbone from a mosasaur as happened on one of the excursions in early July. Dennis Pillion | Dpillion@al.com, al, 5 Aug. 2021 See More Word History
Etymology
New Latin Mosasaurus, from Latin Mosa the river Meuse + Greek sauros lizard
First Known Use
1841, in the meaning defined above