mastodon

noun

mas·​to·​don ˈma-stə-ˌdän 

-dən

1

: any of various extinct mammals (genus Mammut synonym Mastodon) of the elephant family existing from the Miocene through the Pleistocene that are distinguished from the related mammoths chiefly by molar teeth with cone-shaped cusps

2

: one that is unusually large

mastodonic

ˌma-stə-ˈdä-nik 

adjective

mastodont

ˈma-stə-ˌdänt 

adjective or noun

Synonyms

• behemoth
• blockbuster
• colossus
• dinosaur
• dreadnought
• elephant
• giant
• Goliath
• jumbo
• leviathan
• mammoth
• monster
• titan
• whale
• whopper

Examples of mastodon in a Sentence

mom-and-pop stores just can't compete with these mastodons of retailing

Recent Examples on the Web

Experts have already confirmed the jaw, along with toe and rib fragments, belonged to an adult mastodon, one of the many that thrived across portions of North America. —Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 20 Dec. 2024

This illustration depicts giant sloths, humans and mastodons living alongside one another in central Brazil 27,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene period. —CBS News, 20 Dec. 2024

Like mammoths, mastodons disappeared toward the end of the last ice age, when a series of factors, including climate change and human hunting, drove many large animals to extinction, as Jess Thomson reports for Newsweek. —Margherita Bassi, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Dec. 2024

Mammoths were more closely related to modern elephants, whereas mastodons were part of a separate family. —Benedict Cosgrove, Newsweek, 19 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin Mastodont-, Mastodon, genus name, Latinization of French mastodonte, vernacular name for the animal, from Greek mastós "breast, nipple" (probably from a pre-Greek substratal language) + French -odonte -odont; so named from the nipple-like cusps on the crowns of the molar teeth

First Known Use

1811, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

mastodon

noun

mast·​odon

ˈmas-tə-ˌdän,

-dən

: any of various huge extinct mammals related to the mammoths and existing elephants