cretaceous
/kɹəˈteɪ.ʃəs/
cretaceous adjective: of or relating to chalk.
Adjective
cretaceous (not comparable)
- Of or relating to chalk.
- Consisting of chalk.
Proper noun capitalized: Cretaceous
Cretaceous
- The geologic period within the Mesozoic era that comprises lower and upper epochs from about 146 to 66 million years ago.
- As with the Lejeuneaceae, this pattern of massive speciation appears to be correlated with the Cretaceous explosion of the angiosperms and the simultaneous creation of a host of new microenvironments, differing in humidity, light intensity, texture, etc.1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, pages 3–4
- Fossils are particularly well described from the Carboniferous, Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and have been found in the USA, England, Russia, Lebanon and Germany. Sites such as Lyme Regis in Dorset have particularly yielded number of Jurassic “squid” ink sacs and nodules (Doguzhaeva et...2017 August 9, Mark Carnall, “Why do cephalopods produce ink? And what's ink made of, anyway?”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 12 Jan 2026
cretaceous meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
cretaceous in Hindi
- क्रेटेसियस, क्रेटासियस, क्रेटेशियस
cretaceous in Tamil
- கிரட்டேசியஸ், சீமைச் சுண்ணாம்பினாலான, சீமைச் சுண்ணாம்பின் இயல்பு வாய்ந்த, சீமைச்சுண்ணாம்பு ஊழி, சீமைச் சுண்ணாம்பு ஊழிக்குரிய
cretaceous in Marathi
- क्रेटासियस, क्रेटेसियस, क्रेटॅसियस
cretaceous in Urdu
- کریٹیسئس, کریٹیسیس, کریٹاسیئس
More languagesFewer languages
- cretaceous in Bengali
- চকের, তার সাথে সম্পর্কিত, চক দ্বারা গঠিত
- cretaceous in Telugu
- క్రేటేషియస్, క్రిటేషియస్, క్రీటేషియస్
- cretaceous in Malayalam
- ക്രീറ്റാസിയസ്, ക്രേറ്റാസിയസ്, ക്രീറ്റേഷ്യസ്
- cretaceous in Kannada
- ಕ್ರೇಟಾಸಿಯಸ್, ಕ್ರಿಟೇಷಿಯಸ್, ಕ್ರೆಟಾಸಿಯಸ್
- cretaceous in Punjabi
- ਕ੍ਰੀਟਾਸੀਅਸ, ਕ੍ਰੈਟੇਸ਼ਿਯਸ, ਕ੍ਰੈਟੇਸਿਯਸ
- cretaceous in Gujarati
- ક્રેટેસિયસ, ક્રેટાસિયસ, ક્રેટેસીયસ
- cretaceous in Odia
- କ୍ରିଟେସିଯ଼ସ୍, କ୍ରିଟାସିଯ଼ସ୍, କ୍ରେଟାସିଯ଼ସ୍
- cretaceous in Nepali
- क्रेटेसियस, क्रेटासियस, क्रेटेशियस
Origin of cretaceous
From Latin cretaceus (“chalky”), from Latin creta.
Specific use of cretaceous.
Words formed from cretaceous
Words that rhyme with cretaceous
- gracious
- sequacious
- tenacious
- vexatious
- hellacious
- herbaceous
- ostentatious
- rapacious
- sebaceous
- vinaceous
- vivacious
- -aceous
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- acanthaceous
- alsinaceous
- audacious
- capacious
- contumacious
- fallacious
- farinaceous
- flirtatious
- inefficacious
- juglandaceous
- mendacious
- micaceous
- orchidaceous
- perspicacious
- pertinacious
- salacious
- saponaceous
- spacious
- strobilaceous
- veracious
- voracious
- Acacius
- acinaceous
- alliaceous
- amentaceous
- amylaceous
- annonaceous
- apocynaceous
- argillaceous
- atramentaceous
- avenaceous
- bardacious
- bulbaceous
- camphoraceous
- camphrous
- carbonaceous
- cetaceous
- cucurbitaceous
- curvaceous
- dicacious
- edacious
- efficacious
- erinaceous
- fabaceous
- frumentaceous
- lamentacious
- lauraceous
- liliaceous
Questions about cretaceous
- What does cretaceous mean?
- Cretaceous means of or relating to chalk.
- What is cretaceous in Hindi?
- Cretaceous in Hindi is क्रेटेसियस, क्रेटासियस, क्रेटेशियस. See Cretaceous meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is cretaceous?
- Cretaceous can be an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce cretaceous?
- Cretaceous is pronounced /kɹəˈteɪ.ʃəs/.
Words near cretaceous in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cretaceous (page history and authors); Cretaceous (page history and authors); cretaceous (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cretaceous (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cretaceous (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cretaceous (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cretaceous (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cretaceous (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cretaceous (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cretaceous (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cretaceous (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cretaceous (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cretaceous (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cretaceous (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Cretaceous.wav.
Cite this entry: “cretaceous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cretaceous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.