zoological
AmericanOther Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of zoological
Explanation
Anything zoological is about animals. It’s logical that you’d use the word at a zoo, where critters and beasts hang out. This is an easy word to remember if you think about zoos. In fact, zoo is short for Zoological Gardens, the first of which was created by the London Zoological Society to house the society’s wild animals. Zoo comes from the Greek word for animal, zoion, plus -ology for “the study of” and then -ical, an ending that makes the word an adjective. If you’re describing something that has to do with the study of animals, zoological is your word.
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 people behind the new nonprofit say they have veterinarians on staff, are working with financial consultants and zoological experts and are “moving into the future, not looking into the past.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
Belgium's AfricaMuseum is the country's biggest dedicated to the Congo, displaying millions of colonial-era objects and zoological specimens.
From Barron's ● Feb. 12, 2026
The discovery also underscores the value of zoological collections for biodiversity research.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 28, 2026
Only seven other zoological collections in the world keep greater bamboo lemurs.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2024
“I’m going out to explore with my zoological diary,” I say.
From "Hello, Universe" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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.
