kea
noun
a large, greenish New Zealand parrot, Nestor notabilis.
kea
1 American
[key-uh, kee-uh]
/ ˈkeɪ ə, ˈki ə /
noun
Kea
2
American
[key-ah, kee-uh]
/ ˈkeɪ ɑ, ˈki ə /
noun
Kéa
1
British
/ ˈkɛa /
noun
Kea
2
British
noun
kea
3
British
/ ˈkeɪə /
noun
Etymology
Origin of kea
Borrowed into English from Maori around 1860–65
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The next highest votes went to the kea, which got 12,506 votes; and the kakaruia or black robin, which followed closely with 11,726 votes.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2025
Rounding out the top five were the kea, kākāpō and the fantail.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2023
At least one major zoo, at Chester, said it would close while Bristol Zoo said squirrel monkeys, kea parrots and red pandas were being fed frozen ice lollies filled with vegetables, leaves or mealworms.
From Reuters ● Jul. 19, 2022
In “The Bird Way,” Jennifer Ackerman takes a detailed look at the lives of birds — including their parenting strategies — like the bowerbird, the cuckoo and the kea.
From New York Times ● Aug. 27, 2020
I need hardly add that the sheep-farmer naturally resents this irregular proceeding, so opposed to all ideals of good grazing, and that the days of the kea are now numbered in New Zealand.
From Science in Arcady by Grant Allen
Unlike past Decembers, quietness has fallen over the park, as local and foreign tourists have "disappeared", said T-shirt vendor Run Kea.
From Barron's ● Dec. 24, 2025
Caltech has retired a telescope atop the summit of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea following a cultural sea change in how people view land development on revered landmarks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2024
Kanaka elders have insisted that no more telescopes be built on Mauna Kea, which Native Hawaiians consider to be ancestral and sacred.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2024
Native Hawaiians have strongly objected to adding an enormous telescope to the many on Manua Kea, the TMT’s preferred site, regarding it as a further desecration of a sacred place.
From Science Magazine ● May 24, 2024
It was an ugly spot, with great overhanging rocks to defend the pass, and if they got there first, I knew we should have to fight them for possession of Kea.
From The White Man's Foot by Grant Allen
Now, a poll by OpinionWay and Kéa Partners for the Les Echos daily and Radio Classique became the latest on Monday to forecast a much narrower 53%-47% margin of victory for Macron.
From Reuters ● Apr. 4, 2022
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.
