Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
A pit, groove, cavity, or depression.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A long, narrow, shallow depression on the body of an extraterrestrial body, such as a planet or moon.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: astronomy, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A large nocturnal reddish-brown catlike mammal (Cryptoprocta ferox) of the civet family, endemic to the rainforests of Madagascar. It is slender, long-tailed and has retractile claws and anal scent glands.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
largest carnivore of Madagascar; intermediate in some respects between cats and civets
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: fossa cat, Cryptoprocta ferox
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: viverrine, viverrine mammal
noun
monotypic genus of Madagascar civets closely related to palm civets
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: genus Fossa
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: mammal genus
noun
a concavity in a surface (especially an anatomical depression)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: pit
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: cavity, bodily cavity, cavum, concave shape, concavity, incurvation, incurvature
Narrower terms: glenoid fossa, glenoid cavity, mandibular fossa, pit of the stomach, epigastric fossa
History
Unadapted borrowing from Latin fossa (“a ditch, trench, fosse”). Doublet of fosse.
[Alt: Cryptoprocta ferox Borrowing from Malagasy fosa which likely once referred to the Malayan weasel (Mustela nudipes) prior to a semantic shift, thus cognate with Malay pusak and Tagalog pusa both meaning "cat".
Across languages
48 source translations are retained for this English entry.
