The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cenozoic \Ce`no*zo"ic\, a. [Gr. ? recent + ? life.] (Geol.) Belonging to the most recent division of geological time, including the tertiary, or Age of mammals, and the Quaternary, or Age of man. [Written also c[ae]nozoic, cainozoic, kainozoic.] See Geology.
Note: This word is used by many authors as synonymous with Tertiary, the Quaternary Age not being included.
Usage examples of "cainozoic".
It is called the Mesozoic period, to distinguish it from the altogether vaster Palaeozoic and Azoic periods (together fourteen hundred millions) that preceded it, and from the Cainozoic or new life period that intervened between its close and the present time, and it is also called the Age of Reptiles because of the astonishing predominance and variety of this form of life.
It is estimated now that between forty and eighty million years have elapsed from the beginnings of the Cainozoic period to the present time.
The differences between the life of the Cainozoic and Mesozoic periods are far profounder than the resemblances.
But we know that quite early in the Cainozoic period, that is to say some forty million years ago or so, primitive monkeys and lemuroid creatures had appeared, poorer in brain and not so specialized as their later successors.
It is almost impossible to distinguish paloeozoic and cainozoic strata in oral tradition.