Definition of FOSSA

fossa

Plural: fossae, fossas, fossæ

Noun

  • A shallow anatomical depression or hollow.
  • A catlike carnivorous mammal native to Madagascar.
  • a concavity in a surface (especially an anatomical depression)
  • monotypic genus of Madagascar civets closely related to palm civets
  • largest carnivore of Madagascar; intermediate in some respects between cats and civets
  • A pit, groove, cavity, or depression.
  • A long, narrow, shallow depression on the body of an extraterrestrial body, such as a planet or moon.
  • 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.

Examples

  • His opponent found the small ’fossa’ of available squares to play a high-scoring word.
  • Playing ’FOSSA’ on the board felt like unleashing a wild, high-scoring beast.

Origin / Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin fossa (“a ditch, trench, fosse”). Doublet of fosse.

Synonyms

Cryptoprocta ferox, fossa cat, genus Fossa, pit

Scrabble Score: 8

fossa: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
fossa: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
fossa: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 8

fossa: valid Words With Friends Word