zooplankton
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of zooplankton
Explanation
Zooplankton are tiny animals that live in oceans, lakes, and other bodies of water. Since they're microscopic, you can't see zooplankton when you're paddling around a pond in the summertime. The smallest organisms in the sea are known as plankton, a term that includes plants, animals, algae, protozoans — all the microscopic beings that exist in water. You can divide plankton into two categories, phytoplankton (or plants) and zooplankton. That zoo offers a clue about the meaning of this word; like zoology, zookeeper, and plain old zoo, zooplankton has something to do with animals, from the Greek zoion, "an animal."
Vocabulary lists containing zooplankton
Animals (Zoology) - Middle School
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Animals (Zoology) - High School
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Oceanography - Middle School
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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.
In ocean ecosystems, microplastics interfere with natural carbon storage by affecting phytoplankton and zooplankton, organisms that are essential to carbon cycling.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 17, 2026
The team determined that 53% of zooplankton and 60% of micronekton, which feed on zooplankton, would be affected by mining waste discharge.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 8, 2025
But compared to the most popular Antarctic animals like the whale or penguin, the small but mighty zooplankton are overlooked and under-appreciated.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2025
Invasive species such as the overbite clam consumed the zooplankton on which juvenile smelt had fed, toxic chemicals in farm runoff fouled the waters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 14, 2025
What zooplankton lacked in size they made up for in numbers.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
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.
