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alligator.

Either of two species of large amphibious reptile, Alligator mississippiensis or Alligator sinensis, in the genus Alligator within order Crocodilia, which have sharp teeth and very strong jaws and are native to the Americas and China, respectively.

9 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈæl.ɪ.ɡeɪ.tə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈæl.ɪ.ɡeɪ.tɚ/General-American/ˈæl.ɪ.ɡæɪ.tə/Australia
  1. Either of two species of large amphibious reptile, Alligator mississippiensis or Alligator sinensis, in the genus Alligator within order Crocodilia, which have sharp teeth and very strong jaws and are native to the Americas and China, respectively.

    All you could see of the alligator were two eyes above the water, then suddenly it snatched up and caught the poor bird with strong jaws full of sharp teeth.
  2. A crocodilian of the subfamily Alligatorinae.

  3. A dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis)

    Nigeria
  4. A crocodile of any species.

    dated
  5. Any of various machines with strong jaws, one of which opens like the movable jaw of an alligator. A form of squeezer for the puddle ball.

  6. Any of various machines with strong jaws, one of which opens like the movable jaw of an alligator. A rock breaker.

  7. Any of various machines with strong jaws, one of which opens like the movable jaw of an alligator. A kind of job press.

  8. Any of various vehicles that have relatively long, low noses in front of a cab or other, usually windowed, structure.

  9. An alligator-skin shoe.

    plural-normally
  10. A swing music fan or performer, especially one who is white.

    US · dated · slang
Where this word comes from

] From early Modern English alligater, alligarta, aligarto, alegarto, alagarto, from Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), from Latin lacertus (“lizard”), modern spelling possibly influenced by the unrelated Latin alligator (“one who binds”).

verb/ˈæl.ɪ.ɡeɪ.tə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈæl.ɪ.ɡeɪ.tɚ/General-American/ˈæl.ɪ.ɡæɪ.tə/Australia
  1. To crack in a pattern resembling an alligator's skin.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

] From early Modern English alligater, alligarta, aligarto, alegarto, alagarto, from Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), from Latin lacertus (“lizard”), modern spelling possibly influenced by the unrelated Latin alligator (“one who binds”).

intj/ˈæl.ɪ.ɡeɪ.tə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈæl.ɪ.ɡeɪ.tɚ/General-American/ˈæl.ɪ.ɡæɪ.tə/Australia
  1. Used in a common chronometric counting scheme, in which the speaker counts out loud, saying the word "alligator" between the numbers so that each number is spoken approximately one second after the last one.

Where this word comes from

] From early Modern English alligater, alligarta, aligarto, alegarto, alagarto, from Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), from Latin lacertus (“lizard”), modern spelling possibly influenced by the unrelated Latin alligator (“one who binds”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.