moa
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of moa
Borrowed into English from Maori around 1810–20
Vocabulary lists containing moa
Australia and New Zealand - Introductory
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Australia and New Zealand - Middle School and High School
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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.
Colossal’s latest announcement was that it has hatched 26 chickens in an “artificial egg” — a “foundational step,” it said, “toward resurrecting extinct bird species” such as the New Zealand giant moa and the dodo.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
Various narrators explain that the “nearly mythological” moa inspires the imagination.
From Slate ● Aug. 8, 2025
Over the following centuries, the Native Hawaiians, or kanaka maoli, developed a complex, regenerative and self-sufficient agricultural system in their new home, and the moa proliferated.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2022
“It’s no mean feat, because it was a heck of a big bird,” Dr. Wroe said of moa, which could weigh up to 550 pounds.
From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2021
Now, I am going to—well, there is no need to make any bones about it—going to forge a complete stuffed moa.
From The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
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.
