Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or being the epoch of geologic time from about 23 to 5 million years ago, the fourth epoch of the Tertiary Period. It is characterized by the development of grasses and grazing mammals.
  • noun The Miocene Epoch.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In geology, one of Lyell's subdivisions of the Tertiary. See Tertiary.
  • noun In geology, the Miocene strata. Also spelled Meiocene.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Geol.) Of or pertaining to the middle division of the Tertiary.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective geology Of a geologic epoch within the Neogene period from about 23 to 5.3 million years ago; marked by the drift of continents to their present position.
  • proper noun geology The Miocene epoch.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun from 25 million to 13 million years ago; appearance of grazing mammals

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek meiōn, less; see mei- in Indo-European roots + –cene.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek μείων (meiōn, "less") + καινός (kainos, "new").

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Examples

  • The term Miocene (from Greek meion, less; and Greek kainos, recent) is intended to express a minor proportion of Recent species (of testacea); the term Pliocene (from Greek pleion, more; and Greek kainos, recent), a comparative plurality of the same.

    The Antiquity of Man Charles Lyell 1836

  • Discovered in Miocene rocks of Comallo, Argentina, it appears to be a phorusrhacine closely related to Devincenzia, another of those obscure taxa known from pretty good remains.

    Terror birds Darren Naish 2006

  • First Captain Miocene hires a drifter named Pamir - the umpteenth identity of a former captain that has been hiding for centuries - to find the killer.

    REVIEW: Down These Dark Spaceways edited by Mike Resnick 2006

  • First Captain Miocene hires a drifter named Pamir - the umpteenth identity of a former captain that has been hiding for centuries - to find the killer.

    REVIEW: The Year's Best Science Fiction # 23 edited by Gardner Dozois 2006

  • Discovered in Miocene rocks of Comallo, Argentina, it appears to be a phorusrhacine closely related to Devincenzia, another of those obscure taxa known from pretty good remains.

    Archive 2006-10-01 Darren Naish 2006

  • Rainfall increased, too, called the Miocene pluvials.

    WordPress.com News 2009

  • The strata next below the Pleistocene gravels and cave deposits are ascribed to the "Pliocene age" -- older than these are the "Miocene" and the "Eocene," and then you come to the Chalk, a good white landmark separating newer from older strata.

    More Science From an Easy Chair 1888

  • “The Miocene was my father’s main interest when I started in this business,” Richard explained.

    Ancestral Passions Virginia Morell 1995

  • “The Miocene was my father’s main interest when I started in this business,” Richard explained.

    Ancestral Passions Virginia Morell 1995

  • So, two years ago, Miocene anomalies looked important, now not so clear – looks like CO2 and temperature do track.

    2009 December | Serendipity 2009

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