plural zoos
1
: a facility with usually indoor and outdoor settings where living, typically wild animals are kept especially for public exhibition
called also zoological garden, zoological park
2
: a place, situation, or group marked by crowding, confusion, or unrestrained behavior
The convention was a zoo.
variants
or before a vowel zo-
1
: animal : animal kingdom or kind
zooid
zoology
2
: motile
zoospore
Synonyms
Noun
- ado
- alarums and excursions
- ballyhoo
- blather
- bluster
- bobbery
- bother
- bustle
- clatter
- clutter [chiefly dialect]
- coil
- commotion
- corroboree [Australian]
- disturbance
- do [chiefly dialect]
- foofaraw
- fun
- furor
- furore
- fuss
- helter-skelter
- hoo-ha
- hoo-hah
- hoopla
- hubble-bubble
- hubbub
- hullabaloo
- hurly
- hurly-burly
- hurricane
- hurry
- hurry-scurry
- hurry-skurry
- kerfuffle [chiefly British]
- moil
- pandemonium
- pother
- row
- ruckus
- ruction
- rumpus
- shindy
- splore [Scottish]
- squall
- stew
- stir
- storm
- to-do
- tumult
- turmoil
- uproar
- welter
- whirl
- williwaw
Examples of zoo in a Sentence
Noun
The sixth grade classroom was a zoo after recess.
The supermarket was a real zoo on the night before the storm.
Recent Examples on the Web
Brooke Baitinger, Sacramento Bee, 15 May 2024
The 40-acre Wisconsin Deer Park features a petting zoo with deer, elk, and bison.
—Lindsay Cohn, Parents, 13 May 2024
Into the wild den: Five Mexican gray wolf pups born in a New Mexico zoo were placed into a wild den in eastern Arizona as part of a captive breeding program to grow this endangered animal.
—Rafael Carranza, The Arizona Republic, 13 May 2024
Families spend this money on anything from annual zoo passes to personal tutoring to private lessons in ice skating or horseback riding.
—Kristen Taketa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 May 2024
Stubby has helped dozens of young manatees during her two decades at the zoo.
—Kelli Bender, Peoplemag, 11 May 2024
But those superstars of the pollinator world are a bit like the giraffes at the zoo.
—Paul Cappiello, The Courier-Journal, 10 May 2024
The zoo staff immediately shifted the other two animals to a different section of the barn.
—Saman Shafiq, USA TODAY, 10 May 2024
Read Next National Beloved otter suddenly dies at Michigan zoo.
—Olivia Lloyd, Charlotte Observer, 10 May 2024
Noun
Then the chicks will be ready to live with the colony and make their zoo debut in the habitat.
—Brooke Baitinger, Sacramento Bee, 15 May 2024
The 40-acre Wisconsin Deer Park features a petting zoo with deer, elk, and bison.
—Lindsay Cohn, Parents, 13 May 2024
Into the wild den: Five Mexican gray wolf pups born in a New Mexico zoo were placed into a wild den in eastern Arizona as part of a captive breeding program to grow this endangered animal.
—Rafael Carranza, The Arizona Republic, 13 May 2024
Families spend this money on anything from annual zoo passes to personal tutoring to private lessons in ice skating or horseback riding.
—Kristen Taketa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 May 2024
Stubby has helped dozens of young manatees during her two decades at the zoo.
—Kelli Bender, Peoplemag, 11 May 2024
But those superstars of the pollinator world are a bit like the giraffes at the zoo.
—Paul Cappiello, The Courier-Journal, 10 May 2024
The zoo staff immediately shifted the other two animals to a different section of the barn.
—Saman Shafiq, USA TODAY, 10 May 2024
Read Next National Beloved otter suddenly dies at Michigan zoo.
—Olivia Lloyd, Charlotte Observer, 10 May 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'zoo.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near zoo
Cite this Entry
“Zoo.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zoo. Accessed 20 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
zoo
noun
plural zoos
: a garden or park where living usually wild animals are kept for showing to the public
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