Meaning & use

bipedal

adjective·Academic

Using two legs for walking or standing, rather than four.

See it in a sentence

Humans are bipedal, which frees their hands for carrying and using tools.

Scientists study fossils to determine when early hominids became fully bipedal.

A note on using this word

Common in biology and anthropology when contrasting human or dinosaur movement with four-legged animals.

Words with a similar meaning

two-legged

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

quadrupedal

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