Meaning & use
bipedal
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparablebiology
Walking or standing on two feet.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after a verb: bipedal movement; humans are bipedal.
Patterns
- bipedal animal
- bipedal walking
Humans are bipedal, unlike most mammals.
Some dinosaurs were bipedal and ran on strong hind legs.
The robot is designed to be bipedal.
adjectivebefore a nountechnical
Describing a machine or robot that moves on two legs.
Grammar: Usually used before a noun: a bipedal robot.
Patterns
- bipedal robot
Engineers built a bipedal robot that can climb stairs.
The bipedal machine kept its balance on uneven ground.
A bipedal design is hard to stabilize.
Common combinations
- bipedal locomotion
- Bipedal locomotion freed the hands for carrying.
- bipedal dinosaur
- The bipedal dinosaur hunted in packs.
- bipedal posture
- A bipedal posture changes the shape of the pelvis.
- bipedal walking
- Bipedal walking evolved in early humans.
- bipedal robot
- A bipedal robot is hard to balance.
Synonyms and how they differ
- two-legged
- Two-legged is the everyday way to say bipedal, which is the scientific term.
- upright
- Upright describes standing straight, but it does not necessarily say anything about the number of legs.
Opposites
Word family
- biped noun
- an animal that walks on two legs
- bipedalism noun
- the habit of walking on two legs
- bipedally adverb
- on two legs
- quadruped noun
- an animal that walks on four legs
Commonly confused: bipedal or biped?
bipedal vs biped
Biped is the noun for the animal, while bipedal is the adjective.
Practice
Which animal is bipedal?
Choose one answer.
An ostrich walks and runs on two legs. Horses, cats and dogs use four.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bipedal”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.