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
Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Apr. 2024
In 2006, developers secured passage of a countywide referendum to build an entertainment center on zoo property as long as the construction didn’t hurt the environment.
—Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for zoo 
Noun
Teams took the egg to the zoo’s in-house Paul Harter Veterinary Medical Center, gently placed it atop a foam block and waited.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Apr. 2024
In 2006, developers secured passage of a countywide referendum to build an entertainment center on zoo property as long as the construction didn’t hurt the environment.
—Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for zoo
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 5 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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