: any of numerous long slender carnivorous mammals (family Herpestidae) chiefly of Africa and southern Europe and Asia that are usually ferret-sized agile mammals typically with nonretractile sharp claws, short legs, long tail, and usually brownish or grayish fur sometimes with bands or stripes
Note:
Mongooses feed chiefly on small animals (such as insects, earthworms, birds, snakes, and rodents) and are sometimes grouped with the viverrids in two subfamilies (Herpestinae and Galidiinae).
Illustration of mongoose
Examples of mongoose in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebAnd Khan recalls mongooses named after the Golden Girls.—Amy Schwabe, Journal Sentinel, 9 May 2024 Simon Pegg stars as the titular psychic detective, who comes to investigate whether this mongoose really can communicate.—Christian Holub, EW.com, 19 July 2023 Purring is mostly exclusive to cats, although certain other species can produce purr-like sounds, including raccoons, mongooses, kangaroos, badgers, rabbits, and guinea pigs.—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 5 Oct. 2023 The film also features Minnie Driver as Nandor's friend/assistant Anne, Christopher Lloyd as fellow paranormal investigator Dr. Harry Price, and Neil Gaiman as... well, the voice of the mongoose.—Christian Holub, EW.com, 19 July 2023 Researchers have observed that the wild pigs lie down when mongooses are around, allowing themselves to be plucked and pruned of any ticks or other parasites.—Sean Mowbray, Discover Magazine, 25 Oct. 2023 There’s all kinds of stuff that has tried to be a bit catlike in different ways—mongooses, things like that.—Kate Wong, Scientific American, 4 Oct. 2023 These extinct mongoose relatives were about 240 pounds–roughly the size of a lioness–and went extinct about 500,000 years ago.—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 28 Sep. 2023 Feral cats, rats and mongooses, meanwhile, ate unsuspecting ground-nesting birds.—Dino Grandoni, Anchorage Daily News, 25 Aug. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mongoose.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
: any of various quick-moving mammals with a long slender body and long tail that are about the size of a ferret and feed chiefly on small animals and fruit
Share