Word.ws English Dictionary

ammonite

Syllables: am·mo·nite/ˈæ.məˌnaɪt/[ˈɛə̯mɪ̈nʌɪ̯t̚]

ammonite noun: any of an extinct group of cephalopods of the subclass Ammonoidea; a fossil shell of such an animal.

ammonite: any of an extinct group of cephalopods of the subclass Ammonoidea; a fossil shell of such an animal
Image: Tomomarusan, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

ammonite (plural ammonites)

  1. Any of an extinct group of cephalopods of the subclass Ammonoidea; a fossil shell of such an animal.
    • There's more interest to my mind in a neolithic scraper than in a whole show-case-full of ammonites and belemnites.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries
    • Ammonites floated through the world's shallow oceans for more than three hundred million years, and their fossilized shells turn up all around the world.2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 83
    Synonyms:
    ammonid, ammonoid

Noun (2)

ammonite (uncountable)

  1. An explosive prepared from a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate; a form of amatol, popular in Eastern Europe and China.

Noun (3) capitalized: Ammonite

Ammonite (plural Ammonites)

  1. A native or inhabitant of Ammon.

Adjective capitalized: Ammonite

Ammonite (not comparable)

  1. Of or pertaining to the Ammonites.
    Synonyms:
    Ammonitish

Proper noun capitalized: Ammonite

Ammonite

  1. The extinct Canaanite language of the Ammonite people who used to live in modern-day northwest Jordan, and after whom its capital Amman is named. Extinct since 5th century BCE.

ammonite meaning in Tamil, Indonesian and Vietnamese

ammonite in Tamil

அம்மோனைட், அமோனைற்று, மரபிறந்துபோன புதைபடிவநத்தை வகையின் தோடு

ammonite in Indonesian

explosive
amonit

ammonite in Vietnamese

cephalopod
cúc đá

Synonyms of ammonite

Forms of ammonite

pluralammonites
pluralAmmonites

Origin of ammonite

From French ammonite, from Latin Ammōnis (cornū) (“horn of Ammon”), as it was called by Pliny the Elder in reference to coiling ram horns used to symbolise the Egyptian god Amun. Equivalent to Ammon + -ite.

From ammonium nitrate.

From Ammon + -ite.

Words formed from ammonite

Questions about ammonite

What does ammonite mean?
Ammonite means any of an extinct group of cephalopods of the subclass Ammonoidea; a fossil shell of such an animal.
What is ammonite in Tamil?
Ammonite in Tamil is அம்மோனைட், அமோனைற்று, மரபிறந்துபோன புதைபடிவநத்தை வகையின் தோடு. See Ammonite meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is ammonite?
Ammonite can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce ammonite?
Ammonite is pronounced /ˈæ.məˌnaɪt/.
What is the plural of ammonite?
The plural of ammonite is ammonites.

Words near ammonite in the dictionary

  1. ammoniojarosite
  2. ammonioleucite
  3. ammonioleucites
  4. ammoniotelic
  5. ammonisation
  6. ammonite
  7. ammonitella
  8. ammonitellas
  9. ammonites
  10. Ammonitess
  11. Ammonitesses

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ammonite (page history and authors); Ammonite (page history and authors); ammonite (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ammonite.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-JutishMale-Ammonite.wav.

Cite this entry: “ammonite.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ammonite. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.