Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of or belonging to the geologic time, rock series, or sedimentary deposits of the fourth epoch of the Tertiary Period, characterized by the development of grasses and grazing mammals. See Table at geologic time.
- n. The Miocene Epoch or its system of deposits.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- In geology, one of Lyell's subdivisions of the Tertiary. See Tertiary.
- n. In geology, the Miocene strata. Also spelled Meiocene.
Wiktionary
- adj. geology Of a geologic epoch within the Neogene period from about 23 to 5.3 million years ago; marked by the drift of continents to their present position.
- n. geology The Miocene epoch.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. (Geol.) Of or pertaining to the middle division of the Tertiary.
WordNet 3.0
- n. from 25 million to 13 million years ago; appearance of grazing mammals
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek μείων (meiōn, "less") + καινός (kainos, "new"). (Wiktionary)
- Greek meiōn, less, + -cene. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term Miocene (from Greek meion, less; and Greek kainos, recent) is intended to express a minor proportion of Recent species (of testacea); the term Pliocene (from Greek pleion, more; and Greek kainos, recent), a comparative plurality of the same.”
“Discovered in Miocene rocks of Comallo, Argentina, it appears to be a phorusrhacine closely related to Devincenzia, another of those obscure taxa known from pretty good remains.”
“First Captain Miocene hires a drifter named Pamir - the umpteenth identity of a former captain that has been hiding for centuries - to find the killer.”
REVIEW: The Year's Best Science Fiction # 23 edited by Gardner Dozois
“Rainfall increased, too, called the Miocene pluvials.”
“The strata next below the Pleistocene gravels and cave deposits are ascribed to the "Pliocene age" -- older than these are the "Miocene" and the "Eocene," and then you come to the Chalk, a good white landmark separating newer from older strata.”
““The Miocene was my father’s main interest when I started in this business,” Richard explained.”
“So, two years ago, Miocene anomalies looked important, now not so clear – looks like CO2 and temperature do track.”
“In jail after an unwise decision, he contemplates "the Miocene logic and cruel outcomes afflicting all those with pluck but no punctilio.”
“The fossil skeleton was recovered from Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic, from Miocene-aged sediments.”
“Last night I enjoyed a decent, if juvenile, 1998 Gulf of Mexico Miocene Sand Light Sweet Crude from Chateau Chevron notes of wax paper, tire tread, asphalt -- could have benefited from another 14 million years of maturation.”
The Washington Post: Oil spill: What we have here is a failure of communication
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