woolly mammoth

noun

: a heavy-coated mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) formerly inhabiting the colder parts of the northern hemisphere

Illustration of woolly mammoth

Examples of woolly mammoth in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Over drinks in the hotel’s sprawling patio, featuring a Damien Hirst golden woolly mammoth skeleton sculpture, executives traded thoughts on the speech. —Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times, 20 Feb. 2025

Church’s woolly mammoth dreams started off in his lab, with little thought of turning them into a business. —Amy Feldman, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2025

Colossal aims to revive the woolly mammoth species, which mainly went extinct 10,000 years ago (though some populations remained until 4,000 years ago), by creating a woolly mammoth calf that an elephant mother will then give birth to. —Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 15 Jan. 2025

Hunting a woolly mammoth may have had a high reward, but ancient people in central Europe likely went after other animals first. —Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 5 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1874, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

woolly mammoth

noun

: an extinct mammal that was a heavy-coated mammoth of cold northern regions and is known from fossils, from the drawings of prehistoric human beings, and from entire dead frozen bodies dug up in Siberia