kookaburra
noun
kook·a·bur·ra
ˈku̇-kə-ˌbər-ə 
-ˌbə-rə
: a brownish kingfisher (Dacelo novaeguineae synonym D. gigas) of Australia that is about the size of a crow and has a call resembling loud laughter
called also laughing jackass
Examples of kookaburra in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The six-acre park has roughly 190 animals to see, which include bald eagles, porcupines, otters, emus and laughing kookaburras.
—
John Tufts, The Indianapolis Star, 23 July 2024
Get up close and personal with Australia's unique wildlife on Kangaroo Island's nature reserve and see koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, fur seals, penguins, and kookaburras.
—Patricia Doherty, Travel + Leisure, 12 Oct. 2023
First, your observations are checked for obvious errors — no penguins in Oregon or Australian kookaburras in Poughkeepsie, for example.
—The New York Times Elaine Chen Emily Anthes, New York Times, 18 May 2023
In 2006, when the queen was eager to see a kookaburra on a trip to Australia, Ms. Kelly pranked her with a fake one.
—Rory Satran, WSJ, 8 Sep. 2022
Australia’s poppy song was written with AI trained on previous Eurovision hits along with contributions from a neural network fed samples of noises made by koalas, kookaburras and Tasmanian devils.
—Amy Thomson, Bloomberg.com, 24 Apr. 2020
But in a fishing village thousands of miles away, where giant goannas scuttled through gumtrees and kookaburras laughed, my siblings were hunting for wild animal scat and leaping into the ocean.
—New York Times, 17 Jan. 2020
There are currently at least four species at the zoo whose native habitat is Australia: a bearded dragon lizard named Six, Dundee the kookaburra, a Fly River turtle named Penny and a pair of tawny frogmouth birds called Grover and Timrek.
—Meg Jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 20 Feb. 2020
Back in our adult clothes, we were sent away with gifts of commemorative stuffed kookaburras.
—Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 13 Nov. 2019
John Tufts, The Indianapolis Star, 23 July 2024
Get up close and personal with Australia's unique wildlife on Kangaroo Island's nature reserve and see koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, fur seals, penguins, and kookaburras.
—Patricia Doherty, Travel + Leisure, 12 Oct. 2023
First, your observations are checked for obvious errors — no penguins in Oregon or Australian kookaburras in Poughkeepsie, for example.
—The New York Times Elaine Chen Emily Anthes, New York Times, 18 May 2023
In 2006, when the queen was eager to see a kookaburra on a trip to Australia, Ms. Kelly pranked her with a fake one.
—Rory Satran, WSJ, 8 Sep. 2022
Australia’s poppy song was written with AI trained on previous Eurovision hits along with contributions from a neural network fed samples of noises made by koalas, kookaburras and Tasmanian devils.
—Amy Thomson, Bloomberg.com, 24 Apr. 2020
But in a fishing village thousands of miles away, where giant goannas scuttled through gumtrees and kookaburras laughed, my siblings were hunting for wild animal scat and leaping into the ocean.
—New York Times, 17 Jan. 2020
There are currently at least four species at the zoo whose native habitat is Australia: a bearded dragon lizard named Six, Dundee the kookaburra, a Fly River turtle named Penny and a pair of tawny frogmouth birds called Grover and Timrek.
—Meg Jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 20 Feb. 2020
Back in our adult clothes, we were sent away with gifts of commemorative stuffed kookaburras.
—Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 13 Nov. 2019
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'kookaburra.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near kookaburra
Cite this Entry
“Kookaburra.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kookaburra. Accessed 2 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
kookaburra
noun
kook·a·bur·ra
ˈku̇k-ə-ˌbər-ə
ˈkük-,
-ˌbə-rə
: an Australian kingfisher that is about the size of a crow and has a call resembling loud laughter
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share