Meaning & use
triceratops
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A large plant-eating dinosaur that had three horns on its head and a bony frill around its neck.
Grammar: Countable; the plural is usually triceratops, though triceratopses is also sometimes used.
Patterns
- a triceratops
- the triceratops
- a herd of triceratops
The museum's new exhibit features a full triceratops skeleton.
In the movie, a triceratops gently eats plants while the children watch.
Fossils of triceratops have been found in North America.
Word forms
| plural | triceratops |
|---|---|
| plural | triceratopses |
Common combinations
- a triceratops skeleton
- The triceratops skeleton is the most popular display in the hall.
- a triceratops horn
- Scientists studied a triceratops horn to learn about its growth.
- a herd of triceratops
- A herd of triceratops may have roamed this ancient floodplain.
- the late Cretaceous triceratops
- The late Cretaceous triceratops lived alongside Tyrannosaurus rex.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'triceratops' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Triceratops is known for its three facial horns. It was a plant-eater (not meat-eating), lived in the late Cretaceous (not Jurassic), and is extinct (so you cannot see one at a zoo).
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “triceratops”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.