Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of a group of amniote vertebrates that first emerged in the late Permian Period, characterized by a single opening in the temporal region on each side of the skull and including the mammals along with various extinct groups more closely related to mammals than to other amniotes.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Same as synapsidan.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Pertaining to the class Synapsida, of animals which have an opening low in the skull roof behind each eye, leaving a bony arch beneath each.
  • noun Any animal (including all mammals) of the class Synapsida.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun extinct reptile having a single pair of lateral temporal openings in the skull

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin Synapsida, taxon name : syn- + Greek hapsis, hapsid-, arch (from the former belief that the single temporal opening on each side of the synapsid skull evolved by the fusion of the two temporal openings on each side of the diapsid skull ); see apsis.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Modern Latin Synapsida, from syn- + Ancient Greek ἁψίς ("arch").

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