| Main Entry: | Ediacaran period |
| Part of Speech: | n |
| Definition: | a late Precambrian period of geological time, before the Cambrian Period to 635 million years ago; also, the last faunal stage of the Precambrian or Proterozoic |
| Example: | The Ediacaran period ranges from 620 to 542 million years before the present. |
| Etymology: | 1961; name for site in Ediacara Hills, South Australia |