Word.ws English Dictionary

non-avian

non-avian adjective: not avian.

Adjective

non-avian (not comparable)

  1. Not avian.
  2. (defining a paraphyletic group) Excluding birds; not including members of the class/subclass Aves.
    • non-avian dinosaurs
    • non-avian theropods
    Synonyms:
    nonbird

Noun

non-avian (plural non-avians)

  1. Any organism that is not avian.

Examples of non-avian in a sentence

  • "Non-avian reptiles" comprise an unnatural group used only for chapter convenience here.2012, Lance Grande, The Lost World of Fossil Lake: Snapshots from Deep Time, The University of Chicago Press, page 189:
  • As a group, ornithischians tend to be much stouter-toed than ground birds and non-avian theropods.2018, James O. Farlow, Noah's Ravens: Interpreting the Makers of Tridactyl Dinosaur Footprints, Indiana University Press, page 173:

Synonyms of non-avian

Forms of non-avian

Adjective
alternative formnonavian
Noun
pluralnon-avians

Origin of non-avian

From non- + avian.

Words formed from non-avian

Phrases with non-avian

Questions about non-avian

What does non-avian mean?
Non-avian means not avian.
How do you use non-avian in a sentence?
"Non-avian reptiles" comprise an unnatural group used only for chapter convenience here.
What part of speech is non-avian?
Non-avian can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near non-avian in the dictionary

  1. non-auriferous
  2. non-authentic
  3. non-auto
  4. non-automatic
  5. non-availability
  6. non-avian
  7. non-avian dinosaur
  8. non-avian dinosaurs
  9. non-avians
  10. non-backtracking
  11. non-barbaric

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: non-avian (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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