quadrupedal

UK/ˌkwɑdɹəˈpiːdəl/US/ˌkwɑdɹəˈpiːdəl/

adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #15,159 of 15,258Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Quadrupedal means walking on four legs. A quadrupedal dinosaur.

Weight is what usually decides it, since the largest animals need four legs to carry themselves. Several dinosaur lines went from two legs to quadrupedal as they grew heavier.

Definitions of quadrupedal

1adjectivequadrupedalWalking on four legs.C1
“The quadrupedal ones left tracks with a wider gauge.”

quadrupedal is a quality.

Where it comes from

From quadruped + -al.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Dinosaurs & Prehistory

Practise this word

quadrupedal in the wild

Sheep (Ovis aries) are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals that are typically kept as livestock.
Sheep (disambiguation)
The gait is different from the knuckle-walking quadrupedal gait of apes.
Ulas family
Described from a skull, Hypercoryphodon is a quadrupedal hippopotamus-like herbivore that may have been able to adapt its feeding to suit different situations.
Hypercoryphodon
Footprints were made by heavy, bipedal or, sometimes, quadrupedal animals with a short stride that walked on four toes directed forward.
Otozoum
People affected by UTS walk with a quadrupedal locomotion and often have severe learning disabilities.
Uner Tan syndrome

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

← Vocabulary