Definitions

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

  • noun A small carnivorous theropod dinosaur of the genus Deinonychus of the Cretaceous Period, characterized by sickle-shaped talons and powerful jaws.

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

  • noun a small bipedal dinosaur, genus Deinonychus, of the Cretaceous period, characterized by having a large, curved claw on each hind foot.

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

  • noun swift agile wolf-sized bipedal dinosaur having a large curved claw on each hind foot; of the Cretaceous

Etymologies

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

[New Latin Deinonychus, genus name : Greek deinos, fearful, terrifying + Greek onux, onukh-, nail, claw; see nogh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

New Latin (1969) from Ancient Greek δεινός (deinos, "fearful, terrible") (see dinosaur) + ὄνυχος (onukhos) (genitive of ὄνυξ (onuks, "nail, claw, talon"))

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Examples

  • Gert's parents were time-travelers, and on one of their expeditions, they brought her back a dinosaur, a deinonychus she calls Old Lace.

    Casting Call: Who Should Join The Team For Marvel’s ‘Runaways’? » MTV Movies Blog 2008

  • Sharks, especially some of the more wonderful ones, like the Great White or the Mako, are infinitely cooler than the velociraptor actually, the deinonychus, if you're talking about the model for the film because they - or their forebears - survived a friggin' meteor strike.

    An ode to the shark Patrick J. Smith 2006

  • The Dinosaurs Alive exhibit will feature brachiosaurus, tyrannosaurus rex, the deinonychus

    Kentucky.com: Homepage 2010

  • remember those toys? that were people riding on dinosaurs? or, some of them were people- the people used psychic broaches to communicate with the brontosaurus, or deinonychus or whatever. then there were these dudes with like, bug heads, or lizard heads, or whatever. their leader kind of had a frog head. they used "brain boxes" to control the dinosaurs...through foul & wicked science! i think maybe the line was "dino-riders." that was sweet.

    mordicai: crown me king! mordicai 2004

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