any of several horselike African mammals of the genus Equus, each species having a characteristic pattern of black or dark-brown stripes on a whitish background: all zebra species are threatened or endangered.
Also called zebra butterfly. a tropical butterfly, Heliconius charithonius, having black wings barred with yellow.
(initial capital letter) a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter Z.
Football Slang. an official, who usually wears a black and white striped shirt.
British. zebra crossing.
1590–1600; 1975–80 zebra for def. 4; < Portuguese zebra, zebro the Iberian wild ass ( Spanish cebra ), perhaps < Latin equiferus (Pliny) kind of wild horse, equivalent to equi- (combining form of equus horse) + ferus wild
That black-and-white striped animal that looks like a horse? That's a zebra, a large African animal with hooves that you're most likely to see in a zoo. Like donkeys and horses, zebras are members of the family Equidae, or the horse family. Unlike the horses, however, zebras haven't ever truly been domesticated — so don't count on fulfilling your dream of riding a zebra. Zebra comes from Italian, ultimately going back to the Latin root equiferus, "wild horse." In the U.S., the first syllable of zebra is pronounced "zee," but in the U.K., it has a short e sound, like "tepid" or "web."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A zoo frantically looked for an escaped zebra but discovered the animal on the loose was actually a repainted donkey.
From MarketWatch ● May 4, 2026
The incident has drawn comparisons with a 2023 escape of a zebra named Sero from a zoo in Seoul.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
The zebra — named Sero — was eventually cornered in a narrow alley, safely tranquilised and returned to his enclosure without any injuries.
From Barron's ● Apr. 9, 2026
The KU researcher said the combination of a defocusing magnetospheric plasma and a focusing gravity create in-phase and out-of-phase interference bands of radio-wave intensity that appear as the Crab Pulsar's zebra stripes.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 28, 2026
Five minutes later, my parents said, “Okay, let’s go to the garage. Let’s see how the zebra cover fits the truck.”
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
The Zebra fire began Monday around 7 p.m. near State Route 39 and Mountain Laurel Way in Azusa and has closed the highway at Sierra Madre Highway.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Coming into Tuesday trading, Zebra stock was down 11% this year and down 28% over the past 12 months.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
Online comparison tools like the Zebra or Jerry allow you to compare premiums from different insurance companies based on information about the car and your personal driving history.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 4, 2026
A few relatively smaller market capitalization software names that appeared were CoreWeave, HubSpot, Workday, DataDog, GoDaddy, and Zebra Technologies.
From Barron's ● Jan. 20, 2026
Pushed out of the daily operations at the Zebra Room, my grandfather began to spend his days driving around the city.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
The region's Guigang Zoo asked the public for help on Wednesday to find at least 100 animals that had escaped after their enclosures were damaged, including alpacas, miniature pigs, and zebras.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
In contrast, more distant relatives such as donkeys and zebras appear to lack the high frequency component.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 25, 2026
It sells workhorse beans, Eye of the Goat beans, beans with the spots of a cow and beans striped like zebras.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 10, 2026
I love zebras, so you can tell I have the coat, the boots with the fringe, all with the black skirt and the blouse.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2025
More cages snapped off their chains, unleashing two zebras and a pack of hyenas.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
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.
