Dictionary

Cretaceous en · PROPN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /kɹəˈteɪ.ʃəs/

Etymology

Specific use of cretaceous.

Meanings

1. The geologic period within the Mesozoic era that comprises lower and upper epochs from about 146 to 66 million years ago.
   • 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 al. 2004). 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:
   • 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:

Deriveds

end-Cretaceous

Translations (39)

ka ცარცული სისტემა (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · fi liitukausi (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · ro cretacic (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · et kriit (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · nl Krijt (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · hu kréta (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · tr kretase (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · fr Crétacé (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · az Kretase (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · mn ᠴᠡᠷᠳᠡ ᠵᠢᠨ ᠭᠠᠯᠪᠠ (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · es Cretácico (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · ru мел (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · de Kreide (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · gl Cretáceo (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · ko 백악기 (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · mn Цэрдийн галав (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · cmn 白堊紀 /白垩纪 (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · vi kỉ Crê-ta (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · ja 白亜紀 (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · hy Կեղտոտ (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · it cretacico (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · cs křída (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · oc cretacèu (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · sv krita (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · ka ცარცული (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · he קְרֶטִיקוֹן (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · ca cretaci (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · et kriidiajastu (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · pl kreda (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · it cretaceo (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · no kritt (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · es Cretáceo (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · ru мелово́й пери́од (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · el Κρητιδική (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · vi kỉ Phấn Trắng (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · pt cretáceo (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · ug بور دەۋرى (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · ka ცარცული პერიოდი (geologic period within the Mesozoic) · ja 白堊紀 (geologic period within the Mesozoic)