fossa
noun
Simple meaning
A large nocturnal reddish-brown catlike mammal of the civet family, endemic to the rainforests of Madagascar.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fahsuhSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɑsə
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
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.
anatomy
A pit, groove, cavity, or depression.
astronomy
A long, narrow, shallow depression on the body of an extraterrestrial body, such as a planet or moon.
Largest carnivore of Madagascar; intermediate in some respects between cats and civets
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: 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.
Used this way, fossa is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in family or home contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Family/home
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Largest carnivore of Madagascar.
Civet of Madagascar.
A slight depression in the midline just below the sternum (where a blow can affect the solar plexus).
Monotypic genus of Madagascar civets closely related to palm civets.
A deep concavity in the temporal bone at the root of the zygomatic arch that receives the condyle of the mandible.
The hollow under the arm where it is joined to the shoulder.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.