reptile

/ˈɹɛp.taɪl//ˈɹɛp.taɪl/

reptile noun: a (typically scaly and egg-laying) cold-blooded vertebrate tetrapod animal, of the class Reptilia (excluding birds), such as a lizard, turtle, snake, crocodile, alligator, etc.

Noun

reptile (plural reptiles)

A (typically scaly and egg-laying) cold-blooded vertebrate tetrapod animal, of the class Reptilia (excluding birds), such as a lizard, turtle, snake, crocodile, alligator, etc.
Any member of the class Reptilia, including birds.
(dated) Any creeping or crawling animal, one that moves along close to the ground on its belly or on short legs, such as a lizard, snake, salamander, frog, toad, or scorpion.
(dated) An animal belonging to either the class Reptilia or the class Amphibia.

Synonyms:

herptile, herp
(dated, proscribed) An ectothermic, scaly animal, whether sauropsid or synapsid, of the clade Amniota.
- Prior to the 1990s, the non-mammalian synapsids were considered true reptiles.
- mammal-like reptile
(dated, figuratively) An abject, grovelling, loathsome or repulsive person.
- This work may, indeed, be considered as a great creation of our own; and for a little reptile of a critic to presume to find fault with any of its parts, without knowing the manner in which the whole is connected, and before he comes to the final catastrophe, is a most presumptuous absurdity.1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC
- "That reptile," whispered Pott, catching Mr. Pickwick by the arm, and pointing towards the stranger. "That reptile — Slurk, of the Independent!"1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC

Adjective

reptile (not comparable)

Creeping; moving on the belly, or by means of small and short legs.

Synonyms:

reptilious, creeping, crawling, reptitious, despicable
Grovelling; low; vulgar.
- a reptile race or crew reptile vices
- There is also a false, reptile prudence, the result not of caution, but of fear.1795–1797, Edmund Burke, “(please specify |letter=1 to 4)”, in [Letters on a Regicide Peace], London: [Rivington]

reptile meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

reptile in Hindi

a cold-blooded vertebrate: सर्पणशील sarpaṇśīl, सरीसृप sarīsŕp

reptile in Tamil

a cold-blooded vertebrate: ஊர்வன ūrvaṉa

reptile in Marathi

a cold-blooded vertebrate: सरपटणारा प्राणी sarpaṭṇārā prāṇī, सरीसृप sarīsŕp

reptile in Urdu

a cold-blooded vertebrate: خَزَنْدَہ xazanda

More languagesFewer languages

reptile in Bengali: সরীসৃপ śorisrip, রেপ্তাইল reptail
reptile in Telugu: సరీసృపం sarīsr̥paṁ
reptile in Malayalam: ഉരഗം uragaṁ
reptile in Kannada: ಸರೀಸೃಪ sarīsṛpa
reptile in Punjabi: ਭੁਜੰਗੀ bhujaṅgī
reptile in Gujarati: સરીસૃપ sarīsŕp
reptile in Odia: ସରୀସୃପ
reptile in Sanskrit: सरीसृप sarīsṛpa
reptile in Nepali: सरीसृप, रेपटाइल
reptile in Tagalog: bayabag, reptilya
reptile in Arabic: زَحَّافَة zaḥḥāfa
reptile in Malay: reptilia, reptil, binatang reptilia, haiwan reptilia
reptile in Indonesian: reptil, binatang melata
reptile in Thai: สัตว์เลื้อยคลาน sàt-lʉ́ai-klaan
reptile in Vietnamese: động vật bò sát, loài bò sát, bò sát
reptile in Myanmar: တွားသွားကောင် twa:swa:kaung
Kashmiri: سَریسۄرَپھ sarēsọraph

Examples of reptile in a sentence

Rise, and don’t degrade yourself into an abject reptile—don’t!1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XXVII, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II)...
My herald shall appoint a week, / And let the recreant traitors seek / My tournay court—that there and then / I may dislodge their reptile souls / From the bodies and forms of men!1800, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Christabel. Part II.”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John...

All 40 example sentences with reptile

Synonyms of reptile

All synonyms of reptile

Forms of reptile

plural	reptiles

Plural of reptile: reptiles

Origin of reptile

From Middle English reptil, from Old French reptile, from Late Latin rēptile, neuter of reptilis (“creeping”), from Latin rēpō (“to creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *rep- (“to creep, slink”) (Pokorny; Watkins, 1969).

Words formed from reptile

Words that rhyme with reptile

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about reptile

What does reptile mean?: Reptile means a (typically scaly and egg-laying) cold-blooded vertebrate tetrapod animal, of the class Reptilia (excluding birds), such as a lizard, turtle, snake, crocodile, alligator, etc.
What is reptile in Hindi?: Reptile in Hindi is सर्पणशील (sarpaṇśīl), सरीसृप (sarīsŕp). See Reptile meaning in Hindi.
How do you use reptile in a sentence?: Rise, and don’t degrade yourself into an abject reptile—don’t!
What part of speech is reptile?: Reptile can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce reptile?: Reptile is pronounced /ˈɹɛp.taɪl/ (UK).
What is the plural of reptile?: The plural of reptile is reptiles.

Words near reptile in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: reptile (page history and authors); સરીસૃપ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); reptile (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); reptile (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-reptile.wav, En-US reptile.ogg.

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