vertebrate

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun animals having a bony or cartilaginous skeleton with a segmented spinal column and a large brain enclosed in a skull or cranium
adjective having a backbone or spinal column

Adapted borrowing of French vertébré, from Latin vertebrātus (“jointed”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more).

Probably arthropods and vertebrates were threatened with it too. — Creative Evolution, Bergson, Henri
Sea-worms, sea-squirts: and then the first vertebrates, the lamprey-eels. — Astounding Stories, May, 1931, Various
I concluded definitely that it belonged to the vertebrate branch, class mammalia. — Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, Jules Verne

craniate

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