Meaning & use
Cretaceous
The geologic period from about 145 to 66 million years ago, the last period of the Mesozoic Era, ending with the extinction of the dinosaurs.
See it in a sentence
Fossils from the Cretaceous period reveal a wide variety of flowering plants.
The asteroid impact that closed the Cretaceous also wiped out most large dinosaurs.
A note on using this word
Cretaceous is capitalized as a proper name for the period and is also used as an adjective, as in Cretaceous rock layers.
Words with a similar meaning
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