Word.ws English Dictionary

brumation

brumation noun: a lethargic state that some ectothermic animals, such as many reptiles, assume during cold conditions. Partly analogous to hibernation, but physiological differences include that brumation does not depend on stored fat, but rather on reduced metabolic activity.

Noun

brumation (uncountable)

  1. A lethargic state that some ectothermic animals, such as many reptiles, assume during cold conditions. Partly analogous to hibernation, but physiological differences include that brumation does not depend on stored fat, but rather on reduced metabolic activity.

Origin of brumation

From Latin brūma (“winter solstice”) + -tiō, by analogy with hibernation.

Questions about brumation

What does brumation mean?
Brumation means a lethargic state that some ectothermic animals, such as many reptiles, assume during cold conditions. Partly analogous to hibernation, but physiological differences include that brumation does not depend on stored fat, but rather on reduced metabolic activity.
What part of speech is brumation?
Brumation is a noun.

Words near brumation in the dictionary

  1. Brumalia
  2. brumate
  3. brumated
  4. brumates
  5. brumating
  6. brumation
  7. Brumback
  8. Brumbacks
  9. Brumbaugh
  10. Brumbaughs
  11. Brumbelow

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: brumation (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.

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