zoologist
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of zoologist
Explanation
A zoologist is a scientist who studies animals. Zoologists are experts on everything about animals, from their cells to the history of their evolution. If you love and are fascinated by animals, you might decide to become a zoologist. Your major in college will probably be zoology, which is a branch of biology focusing on all animals — even those that are extinct. A zoologist may end up doing research, or work as a zookeeper in a zoo. Zoologist shares a root with zoology, the Latin zoologia, which combines the Greek words zoion, "animal," and logia, "study."
Vocabulary lists containing zoologist
Turtles All the Way Down
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UCPS 6th Grade Roots List #16
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ist
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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.
The zoologist George Schaller traveled the globe to get up close and personal with tigers, gorillas and other animals.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
Dr Michel Dugon, a zoologist at the University of Galway, said the figures are "interesting" but "not surprising".
From BBC • Apr. 13, 2026
In the immortal words of English zoologist Lancelot Alexander Borradaile, who coined the term, carcinization is “one of the many attempts of Nature to evolve a crab.”
From Salon • Oct. 14, 2024
He knew things no other zoologist did because of his proximity to the whales and keen eye.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 29, 2024
Davenport, the Harvard-trained zoologist famous for establishing the Eugenics Record Office, created a standardized evaluation form to judge the fittest babies.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
