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View synonyms for zoo

zoo

1

[ zoo ]

noun

, plural zoos.
  1. Also called zoological garden. a parklike area in which live animals are kept in cages or large enclosures for public exhibition.
  2. Informal. a place, activity, or group marked by chaos or unrestrained behavior.


zoo-

2
  1. a combining form meaning “living being,” “animal,” used in the formation of compound words:

    zoometry; zooplankton.

zoo-

1

combining_form

  1. indicating animals

    zooplankton

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


zoo

2

/ zuː /

noun

  1. a place where live animals are kept, studied, bred, and exhibited to the public Formal termzoological garden
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of zoo1

First recorded in 1840–50; first two syllables of zoological garden taken as one syllable

Origin of zoo2

Combining form representing Greek zôion animal
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Word History and Origins

Origin of zoo1

from Greek zōion animal

Origin of zoo2

C19: shortened from zoological gardens (originally applied to those in London)
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Idioms and Phrases

see it's a zoo .
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Example Sentences

Triplet panda cubs born this past July were reunited with their mother, Juxiao, in a Chinese zoo this week.

She worked with wildlife as a volunteer in Peru and the Galapagos; she worked with elephants in Thailand, at a zoo in Australia.

They asked the director of the Buffalo Zoo for some wallaby hair.

The zoo is blessed with multiple wallabies and was happy to oblige.

I can appreciate the perspective that my experience is akin to visiting a human zoo.

I remember him saying once—it was at the Zoo—what a pity it was he hadn't enough to divide among the whole Cabinet.

Human resemblances at the Zoo are quite enough to call up this purely functional giggling.

Did you ever see the great python that died lately at the Zoo climb his ragged staff of a tree?

There are any number of different kinds of monkeys, as you can see any day in the monkey house at the Zoo.

We caught the papa in a trap after he had killed a number of grouse, and not being badly hurt, I sent him to Bartlett at the Zoo.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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