Meaning & use
reptile
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Meanings
nouncountablebiology
A cold-blooded animal with dry scales or scutes that usually lays eggs on land, such as a snake, lizard, turtle, or crocodile.
Grammar: Countable: one reptile, many reptiles; often used in the plural for the whole group.
Patterns
- a reptile egg
- keep a reptile
- venomous reptile
A snake is a reptile, while a frog is an amphibian.
The sign warned visitors not to touch any reptile in the enclosure.
nouncountabledisapprovingliterary
A person regarded as cold, treacherous, or morally unpleasant, used as an insult.
Grammar: Countable and always strongly negative; avoid in polite reference to real people.
Patterns
- call someone a reptile
- a cold reptile
In the novel, the traitor is described as a reptile who betrayed every friend.
The columnist used reptile as a contemptuous label for the corrupt official.
Word forms
| plural | reptiles |
|---|
Common combinations
- reptile house
- We watched the iguanas being fed at the reptile house.
- reptile egg
- A crocodile buries its reptile egg in warm sand.
- venomous reptile
- Only a specialist should handle a venomous reptile.
- reptile keeper
- The reptile keeper checks temperatures in every enclosure.
Synonyms and how they differ
- herpetofauna
- A technical collective term for reptiles and amphibians together, not one animal.
- cold-blooded animal
- A descriptive phrase, broader in everyday speech and less precise than reptile.
Word family
Commonly confused: reptile or amphibian? reptile or reptilian?
reptile vs amphibian
Amphibians such as frogs usually have moist skin and need water for early life; reptiles have dry scaly skin.
reptile vs reptilian
Reptilian is usually the adjective; reptile is the everyday noun for the animal.
Practice
Which animal is a reptile?
Choose one answer.
A snake has dry scales and lays amniotic eggs, so it is a reptile. Frogs and salamanders are amphibians, and trout are fish.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “reptile”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.