end-Cretaceous

adjective

Pertaining to the end of the Cretaceous period, marked by a major extinction event.

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Meanings

adjectiveend-Cretaceous (not comparable)
  1. not comparablebiologyPertaining to the end of the Cretaceous period, marked by a major extinction event.

    Although the end-Cretaceous bolide impact is contemporaneous with the abrupt end of the reign of dinosaurs, early mammals survived the catastrophic event […].

    2007, Clarence A Hall Jr., Introduction to the Geology of Southern California and Its Native Plants, page 100
    2 more examples

    Towards the end of the Cretaceous diversity declined sharply and only a few widespread genera are found in the uppermost beds, these finally disappearing in the end-Cretaceous extinctions.

    1988, Rona M Black, The Elements of Palaeontology, page 93

    The end Cretaceous catastrophe that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago did for these animals too and the oceans were quieter for a while, but within fifteen million years or so the ancestors of dolphins and whales were exploiting the rich seas of the Eocene.

    2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 187
Cite this entry
APA

end-Cretaceous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/end-Cretaceous

MLA

“end-Cretaceous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/end-Cretaceous. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “end-Cretaceous,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/end-Cretaceous.

Source: end-Cretaceous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.