Meanings
plural velociraptors
- A small agile dinosaur, of the genus Velociraptor, having sickle-shaped claws. It is also thought to have had a feathered coat. Fossils have been found in Late Cretaceous deposits Mongolia and China (around 75-71 mya).
Bipedal hadrosaurs, great hulking lambeosaurs, certain rhino-like ceratopsians and relatives of the velociraptors - all large and probably able swimmers - had the greatest success.
2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 31 - broadcastingAlso Deinonychus.
This is my favorite velociraptor, and that is saying a lot....That this species is sunk into Velociraptor is rather unfortunate, because the name Deinonychus Ostrom 1969a is a fine one.
1988, Gregory S. Paul, Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo: Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, pages 366–7Synonyms: deinonychus
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAlso Deinonychus.
Origin
- taxonomic nameVelociraptor
- Englishvelociraptor
From taxonomic name Velociraptor genus name, from vēlōx (“swift”) + raptor (“thief”). The application to Deinonychus came about because Gregory S. Paul proposed that Velociraptor and Deinonychus were the same genus and this idea was taken up in the book leading to the Jurassic Park film series.
More words from taxonomic name
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 速龍 /速龙, 伶盜龍 /伶盗龙
- 速龍 /速龙 (sùlóng)dinosaur
- 伶盜龍 /伶盗龙 (língdàolóng)dinosaur
Dutch velociraptor
- velociraptordinosaur
Finnish velociraptor
- velociraptordinosaur
French vélociraptor
- vélociraptordinosaur
Icelandic snareðla
- snareðladinosaur
Italian velociraptor
- velociraptordinosaur
Japanese ヴェロキラプトル
- ヴェロキラプトル (verokiraputoru)dinosaur
Korean 벨로키랍토르
- 벨로키랍토르 (bellokiraptoreu)dinosaur
Polish welociraptor
- welociraptordinosaur
Portuguese velociraptor
- velociraptordinosaur
Russian велоцира́птор
- велоцира́птор (velociráptor)dinosaur
Spanish velocirráptor
- velocirráptordinosaur
Cite this entry
velociraptor. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/velociraptor
“velociraptor.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/velociraptor. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “velociraptor,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/velociraptor.
Source: velociraptor on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.