Word.ws English Dictionary

Ediacaran

UK/ɛdiˈakəɹən/

Ediacaran adjective: of a geologic period within the Neoproterozoic era from about 620 to 542 million years ago.

Adjective

Ediacaran (not comparable)

  1. Of a geologic period within the Neoproterozoic era from about 620 to 542 million years ago.
    • The widespread discoveries of fossil remains of Ediacaran aspect have generated continued excitement in respect of their possible evolutionary significance, and in terms of recent surrealistic interpretations of their morphology and inferred interrelationships (Pflug, 1970a,b, 1972a,b; Fedonkin...1992, Richard J. F. Jenkinsm, “Chapter 5: Functional and Ecological Aspects of Ediacaran Assemblages”, in Jere H. Lipps, Philip W. Signor, editors, Origin and Early Evolution of the Metazoa, page 133
    • Swartpuntia (frondlike metazoans) and Ernietta (ribbed saclike metazoans) are part of the Ediacaran fauna.2007, Clarence A. Hall, Jr., Introduction to the Geology of Southern California and Its Native Plants, page 83

Proper noun

Ediacaran

  1. The Ediacaran period.
    • Recently, in 2004, a new geological period, the Ediacaran, was formally added to the time scale. It immediately precedes the Cambrian period, and therefore lies within the Proterozoic.2008, Doug Macdougall, Nature’s Clocks: How Scientists Measure the Age of Almost Everything, page 145
    • They became prevalent during the Ediacaran, 635 to 542 million years ago.2011, Guido O. Perez, Methodological Naturalism and Planetary Humanism, page 18

Noun

Ediacaran (plural Ediacarans)

  1. An organism that lived in the Ediacaran period.
    • Many Ediacarans seem to have lived quiet lives of very limited mobility on the bottom of the sea.2016, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Other Minds, William Collins, published 2018, page 30

Examples of Ediacaran in a sentence

  • Since then, geologists have found similar Ediacaran faunas in Precambrian rocks from other parts of the world as well.2011, Matt Cartmill, Fred H. Smith, The Human Lineage, page 18:
  • Scientists who have analysed ancient fossils of Ediacaran biota – life forms that existed between 538.8m and 635m years ago – say they represent the earliest evidence of food consumed by animals.2022 November 22, Donna Lu, “The real paleo diet: researchers find traces of world’s oldest meal in 550m-year-old fossil”, in The Guardian:

Forms of Ediacaran

pluralEdiacarans

Origin of Ediacaran

From Ediacara + -an. After the Ediacara Hills in South Australia; from an Australian Aboriginal term (details disputed). See Ediacara Hills on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Questions about Ediacaran

What does Ediacaran mean?
Ediacaran means of a geologic period within the Neoproterozoic era from about 620 to 542 million years ago.
How do you use Ediacaran in a sentence?
Since then, geologists have found similar Ediacaran faunas in Precambrian rocks from other parts of the world as well.
What part of speech is Ediacaran?
Ediacaran can be an adjective, a proper noun or a noun.
How do you pronounce Ediacaran?
Ediacaran is pronounced /ɛdiˈakəɹən/ (UK).

Words near Ediacaran in the dictionary

  1. edgy
  2. edh
  3. edhs
  4. EDI
  5. Edi Upper
  6. Ediacaran
  7. Ediacarans
  8. edibilities
  9. edibility
  10. edible
  11. edible amaranth

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Ediacaran (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: En-Ediacaran.ogg.

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