non-avian

adjective

non-avi·​an ˌnän-ˈā-vē-ən 

variants or nonavian

1

: not of or relating to birds : not avian

… assorted nonavian creatures whirring, buzzing and croaking.

—Richard Conniff

nonavian anatomy

2

: of, relating to, or being a non-avian dinosaur

non-avian theropods

Examples of non-avian in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

About 66 million years ago, the Chicxulub asteroid smashed into Earth, kicking up tsunamis and dropping hot debris that annihilated non-avian dinosaurs and many other species. — Elizabeth Rayne, ArsTechnica, 30 Sep. 2026

When the catastrophe wiped out their massive non-avian relatives, the bird lineages that survived were positioned to take advantage of newly vacant ecological niches. — Kevin Brown, Forbes.com, 24 Sep. 2026

The feathers were partially adapted for diving, yet retained primitive, fuzzy down typical of non-avian dinosaurs. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 10 Sep. 2026

Lee compared the survival patterns to the coelacanth, a deep-water fish that survived the mass extinction that eliminated non-avian dinosaurs. — Hanna Wickes, Charlotte Observer, 27 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1907, in the meaning defined at sense 2