Gauthier (1986) first proposed a definition for Coelurosauria, a taxon that had previously been used for all small-bodied theropods, using Carnosauria and birds as specifiers. Holtz (1994) was first to suggest replacing Carnosauria with Allosaurus, and did so formally two years later (Holtz 1996). Before that definition appeared, an abstract was published with a partial definition for Coelurosauria along those lines (Holtz and Padian 1995:35A): “those closer to birds than to Allosaurus”). Sereno (1998) used Allosaurus and Neornithes, following Hotz (1996). Padian et al. (1999:73) returned to using Carnosauria rather than Allosaurus as a specifier, replacing “birds” with Neornithes and attributing the definition to Gauthier (1986).

The active definition is a first-order revision of Holtz (1996) that uses species instead of higher taxa and also includes a few additional external specifiers within the immediate outgroup (Allosauroidea), in the event that Allosauroidea so conceived is not monophyletic but rather has one or more members that are closer to Coelurosauria than to Allosaurus fragilis.