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# velociraptor

noun (a velociraptor, velociraptors; Velociraptor — the scientific name)

«velociraptor» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

A velociraptor was a small, fast, meat-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now Mongolia and China; it ran on two legs, had feathers and a large curved claw on each foot. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/velociraptor/#m1)

### In the lessons

In science lessons on dinosaurs and fossils, the velociraptor is famous from films like «Jurassic Park», where it is shown as large and scaly; real fossils show it was about the size of a turkey and had feathers, like birds, which are its distant relatives. A famous fossil shows a velociraptor fighting a protoceratops. Phrases: velociraptor claw, a feathered velociraptor.

### Examples

- A velociraptor had a big curved claw on each foot. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/velociraptor/#x1)
- Real velociraptors were about the size of a turkey. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/velociraptor/#x2)
- Fossils show that velociraptors had feathers. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/velociraptor/#x3)
- The name velociraptor means «swift thief». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/velociraptor/#x4)
- A velociraptor fossil was found locked in a fight with another dinosaur. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/velociraptor/#x5)
- In the film the velociraptors were much bigger than real ones. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/velociraptor/#x6)
- The velociraptor ran on two legs and held its tail out straight. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/velociraptor/#x7)
- Birds are distant relatives of dinosaurs like the velociraptor. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/velociraptor/#x8)

### Note

Countable: a velociraptor, velociraptors; often shortened to «raptor». Pronounced «vuh-LOSS-ih-rap-tor». As a scientific genus name it is written with a capital V and in italics: Velociraptor. The name comes from Latin: «velox» (swift) + «raptor» (thief, robber). Myth: the films' velociraptors were really based on a bigger relative.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «velociraptor» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/velociraptor/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«velociraptor» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/velociraptor.html) on Mova free.