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Definition of "lunate" [lu•nate]

  • Shaped like a crescent. (adjective)
  • Archaeology A small stone artifact, probably an arrowhead, with a blunt straight edge and a sharpened, crescent-shaped back, especially characteristic of the Mesolithic Period. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "lunate" in a sentence
  • "If the terms lunate, tunulate or crefcent-JJjaped be objected to, we may ufe the periphrafis, JJjaped like a crcfccni, for any form of a leaf, &c. refembling the moon in any period of her firfi: quarter; fince tills term does not occur very frequently."
  • "Frenum: that which holds things together: a lunate or triangular portion at the inner and hinder base of the wing in Odonata and Trichoptera; see tendo."
  • "Fruiting in summer: Plant fleshy, sterile part mostly with lunate segments."