Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Definition of mammoth Entry 1 of 2. Definition of mammoth Entry 2 of 2. Choose the Right Synonym for mammoth Adjective enormous , immense , huge , vast , gigantic , colossal , mammoth mean exceedingly large.
Examples of mammoth in a Sentence Noun even as sport-utility vehicles go, that one is a mammoth Adjective Renovating the house is a mammoth undertaking. Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Meyrowitz is bringing new materials that will be showcased in the US for the first time, including Pleistocene mammoth ivory and unique tinting options for sunglasses.
First Known Use of mammoth Noun , in the meaning defined at sense 1 Adjective , in the meaning defined above. Adjective derivative of mammoth entry 1. Learn More About mammoth. Time Traveler for mammoth The first known use of mammoth was in See more words from the same year.
From the Editors at Merriam-Webster. Style: MLA. English Language Learners Definition of mammoth Entry 1 of 2. Kids Definition of mammoth Entry 1 of 2.
Kids Definition of mammoth Entry 2 of 2. Get Word of the Day daily email! The definition is accompanied by a series of quotations showing a number of printed sources in which the word is found since its first appearance in English. The first two quotations and are presented in square brackets. This means that they are not actual instances of our word, but quotations which give some information about related words at a time before mammoth itself is first recorded in English All of the earliest quotations indicate that English-speakers first encountered the word as a result of the discovery of mammoth bones in Siberia, and this suggests to lexicographers or dictionary-compilers that the word may have entered English from one of the languages in that area.
Now look at the first six quotations: all of them derive from dictionaries or from accounts of travellers often in translation. Later quotations from the nineteenth century and later come from literature and technical texts, showing that the word had become by then more familiar to English-speakers. So how does this all fit in with the etymology? The etymology shows that the Russian word is recorded from Down at the bottom of the etymology you can see that words for mammoth entered the continental European languages from onwards.
We can identify a wave of interest in this curious beast throughout Europe from around onwards which fits in with the English evidence.
So that brings the word into English, and how did it develop after that? As a noun it was applied to another prehistoric elephant, the mastodon , from onwards. But as scientific knowledge improved this sense died out , as more correct terminology took its place. The prehistoric mammoth was a marvel and a curiosity; it stuck in the European mind as something absolutely remarkable.
The first instances of this adjectival use occur in the United States. Save This Word! We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.
See gigantic. Words nearby mammoth mammography , mammon , mammonism , mammoplasty , mammose , mammoth , Mammoth Cave National Park , mammoth jack , mammotomy , mammotropic , mammula. Words related to mammoth colossal , enormous , gargantuan , gigantic , immense , large , massive , monstrous , monumental , prodigious , vast , giant , high , leviathan , elephantine , jumbo , long , mighty , mountainous , stupendous.
How to use mammoth in a sentence At the bottom, several trails converged beneath a mammoth sandstone outcropping. In Search of the Unknown Robert W. Word Origin for mammoth C from Russian mamot, from Tatar mamont, perhaps from mamma earth, because of a belief that the animal made burrows. Any of various extinct elephants of the genus Mammuthus, having long, upwardly curving tusks and thick hair.
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