non-avian
adjective
non-avi·an ˌnän-ˈā-vē-ən 
variants or
1
: not of or relating to birds : not avian
… assorted nonavian creatures whirring, buzzing and croaking.
Richard Conniff
Richard Conniffnonavian anatomy
2
: of, relating to, or being a non-avian dinosaur
non-avian theropods
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web But when an asteroid crashed into Earth 66 million years ago, killing all the nonavian dinosaurs, the pterosaurs’ reign also came to a close. Michael B. Habib, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2019 Starting in the 1980s, after Luis and Walter Alvarez hypothesized that a meteor impact wiped out the nonavian dinosaurs, teams of geologists searched fruitlessly for evidence of meteor strikes that could explain the other mass extinctions. National Geographic, 18 Dec. 2019 The fossils include downy feathers for insulation, a fluffy protofeather that most likely belonged to a nonavian dinosaur, and one complex flight feather like those on the wings of modern birds. John Pickrell, National Geographic, 18 Nov. 2019 That’s a longer tenure than the nonavian dinosaurs. Michael Greshko, National Geographic, 17 Oct. 2019 Death to the dinosaurs The gravitational interactions among TNOs may also explain another strange event: the extinction of the nonavian dinosaurs about 65 million years ago. Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com, 5 June 2018 This was shortly before the mass extinction event 66 million years ago that killed off all the pterosaurs alongside the nonavian dinosaurs. National Geographic, 8 May 2018 In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Proceeding of the Royal Society B, the team has identified three characteristics in land-dwelling mammals, reptiles and nonavian dinosaurs that may be linked with evolving bony tail weapons. Nicholas St. Fleur, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2018 These early and abundant birds still had small teeth in their beaks and went extinct along with the nonavian dinosaurs 66 million years ago. John Pickrell, National Geographic, 12 Dec. 2017 See More
Michael B. Habib, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2019 Starting in the 1980s, after Luis and Walter Alvarez hypothesized that a meteor impact wiped out the nonavian dinosaurs, teams of geologists searched fruitlessly for evidence of meteor strikes that could explain the other mass extinctions. National Geographic, 18 Dec. 2019 The fossils include downy feathers for insulation, a fluffy protofeather that most likely belonged to a nonavian dinosaur, and one complex flight feather like those on the wings of modern birds. John Pickrell, National Geographic, 18 Nov. 2019 That’s a longer tenure than the nonavian dinosaurs. Michael Greshko, National Geographic, 17 Oct. 2019 Death to the dinosaurs The gravitational interactions among TNOs may also explain another strange event: the extinction of the nonavian dinosaurs about 65 million years ago. Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com, 5 June 2018 This was shortly before the mass extinction event 66 million years ago that killed off all the pterosaurs alongside the nonavian dinosaurs. National Geographic, 8 May 2018 In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Proceeding of the Royal Society B, the team has identified three characteristics in land-dwelling mammals, reptiles and nonavian dinosaurs that may be linked with evolving bony tail weapons. Nicholas St. Fleur, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2018 These early and abundant birds still had small teeth in their beaks and went extinct along with the nonavian dinosaurs 66 million years ago. John Pickrell, National Geographic, 12 Dec. 2017 See More Word History
First Known Use
1907, in the meaning defined at sense 2