Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or being the period of geologic time from about 251 to 199 million years ago, the oldest period of the Mesozoic Era. The Triassic Period is characterized by the presence of the supercontinent Pangaea, the diversification of land life, the rise of dinosaurs, and the appearance of the earliest mammals.
  • noun The Triassic Period.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In geology, the lower of the three great divisions of the entire system of fossiliferous rocks (Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous) which together make up the Mesozoic or Secondary series.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Geol.) Of the age of, or pertaining to, the Trias.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or from the geologic strata above the Permian and below the Jurassic; of or belonging to the period 250 to 200 million years ago when these strata were laid down.
  • proper noun geology A geologic period within the Mesozoic era; comprises lower, middle and upper epochs from about 250 to 200 million years ago.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to or denoting the first period of the Mesozoic era
  • noun from 230 million to 190 million years ago; dinosaurs, marine reptiles; volcanic activity

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin trias, triad (from the subdivision of this period into three parts); see triad + –ic.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1841, coined by geologist Friedrich August von Alberti (1795–1878). From Trias ("three-layered geologic strata between the Permian and Jurassic") < German Trias < Ancient Greek τριάς (triás, "triad") + -ic.

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Examples

  • Now my theory is, you 're in strata here of what we call the Triassic Age.

    Joy John Galsworthy 1900

  • Now my theory is, you 're in strata here of what we call the Triassic Age.

    Complete Plays of John Galsworthy John Galsworthy 1900

  • Now my theory is, you 're in strata here of what we call the Triassic Age.

    Complete Project Gutenberg John Galsworthy Works John Galsworthy 1900

  • I finished the final chapter of Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Life in the Triassic, which deals mostly with the question of whether or not the mass extinction at the end of the Triassic was an actual mass extinction, and if so, what the agent responsible might have been.

    "...the path widened and blackened and curved." stsisyphus 2008

  • The three great divisions of fossiliferous rocks are called the Triassic, the Jurassic, and the

    Autobiography and Selected Essays 2003

  • When with the changing time we pass to the beds known as the Triassic, which were made just after the close of the Carboniferous time, we find the earth undergoing swift changes in its life.

    Young Folks' Library, Volume XI (of 20) Wonders of Earth, Sea and Sky Various 1880

  • The three great divisions of fossiliferous rocks are called the Triassic, the

    Autobiography and Selected Essays Thomas Henry Huxley 1860

  • "[The results] showed a lot of the South American dinosaurs in the Triassic were the most primitive dinosaurs we have found to date," said lead researcher Sterling Nesbitt of the University of Texas at Austin.

    FOXNews.com 2009

  • "[The results] showed a lot of the South American dinosaurs in the Triassic were the most primitive dinosaurs we have found to date," said lead researcher Sterling Nesbitt of the University of Texas at Austin.

    FOXNews.com 2009

  • Suddenly, in the "carbonic age" amphibia and reptiles appear, and then come, in the "Triassic" the huge reptiles known as dinosaurs.

    Evolution An Investigation and a Critique Theodore Graebner 1913

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