: a thickset, usually extremely large, nearly hairless, herbivorous mammal (family Elephantidae, the elephant family) that has a snout elongated into a muscular trunk and two incisors in the upper jaw developed especially in the male into long ivory tusks:
(1)
: a tall, large-eared mammal (Loxodonta africana) of tropical Africa that is sometimes considered to comprise two separate species (L. africana of sub-Saharan savannas and L. cyclotis of central and western rainforests)
called alsoAfrican elephant
(2)
: a relatively small-eared mammal (Elephas maximus) of forests of southeastern Asia
called alsoAsian elephant, Indian elephant
b
: any of various extinct relatives of the elephant see mammoth, mastodon
by any standard, the new shopping mall will be an elephant and one that is certain to alter the retail landscape
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The brightly colored animal creations depict everything from sloths and raccoons to birds, elephants and giraffes.—Julie Gallant, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2025 Big cats, giraffes, elephants and zebras made cameos in the photos.—Angel Saunders, People.com, 25 Mar. 2025 The titular elephant looks fantastic and is almost unbearably adorable, and the excellent production design brings the world of the circus to haunting life.—Barry Levitt, TIME, 21 Mar. 2025 Moreover, some African elephants are still hunted for their tusks, even though the international trade in ivory is banned.—Dan Perry, Newsweek, 18 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for elephant
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French olifant, elefant, from L. elephantus, from Greek elephant-, elephas
: any of a family of huge thickset nearly hairless mammals that have the snout lengthened into a trunk and two incisors in the upper jaw developed into long outward-curving pointed ivory tusks and that include two living forms:
a
: one with large ears that occurs in tropical Africa
b
: one with relatively small ears that occurs in forests of southeastern Asia
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