especially: a burrowing highly social primarily insectivorous mammal (Suricata suricatta) of southern Africa that is chiefly grayish with faint black markings and lives in usually large colonies
Illustration of meerkat
Examples of meerkat in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebFour curious young meerkats, born in February, are spotted frolicking in their surroundings at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, Illinois.—Fox News, 9 Apr. 2024 Among the creatures to be featured are sloths, green sea turtles, falcons, cheetahs, meerkats, otters, giant pandas, sea dragon and numbats.—Leo Barraclough, Variety, 5 Apr. 2024 Horseback ride with the giraffes, commune with curious meerkats at sunrise, track endangered pangolins with researchers, and indulge in a special dinner so unique that ruining the surprise here would be unconscionable.—Mark Lakin, Travel + Leisure, 27 Dec. 2023 Last week, the zoo announced the arrival of four baby meerkats, following a 27-year absence from the establishment.—Brenton Blanchet, Peoplemag, 25 Sep. 2023 There are also signs posted near the meerkat exhibit alerting visitors about what happened to the five meerkats.—Kate Perez, USA TODAY, 14 June 2023 The meerkat exhibit will sadly remain empty, as the deceased animals were the zoo's only meerkats.—Erin Clack, Peoplemag, 14 June 2023 Originally debuting on Animal Planet in 2019, two seasons of the show take viewers inside the day-to-day lives of koalas, cheetah cubs, lions, pandas, a white rhino, hippos, meerkats and more.—Abby Hamblin, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Sep. 2023 The dye was used on the meerkats June 1, and one of them was found dead about 30 minutes later, officials said.—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 14 June 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'meerkat.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Afrikaans, from Dutch, a kind of monkey, from Middle Dutch meercatte monkey, from meer sea + catte cat
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