meerkat

noun

meer·​kat ˈmir-ˌkat 

: any of several African mongooses

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 Web

The winning film, Total Pixel Space by Jacob Adler, is a jumble of both realistic and impossible vivid landscapes like a flying pig, people floating in a city or inside a pool, a bloom of jellyfish and a meerkat donning a bright yellow turtleneck. —Rashi Shrivastava, Forbes.com, 10 June 2025

While some travelers are keen to see the Big Five, and probably will, don’t forget the fun of watching a herd of impalas, a group of friendly meerkats or a giraffe or two. —Sherrie Nachman, Forbes.com, 29 Apr. 2025

Visitors will find jaguars, tigers, tree kangaroos, crocodiles, elephants, camels, chimpanzees, rhinos, Florida panthers and meerkats, among many others. —Kari Barnett, Sun Sentinel, 13 May 2025

Are the meerkats that appear near the end of the story real or a hallucination? —Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Afrikaans, from Dutch, a kind of monkey, from Middle Dutch meercatte monkey, from meer sea + catte cat

First Known Use

1801, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for meerkat

• allot
• barat
• begot
• besought
• bethought
• bloodshot
• boycott
• buckshot
• crackpot
• croat
• culottes
• dashpot

Kids Definition

meerkat

noun

meer·​kat ˈmir-ˌkat 

: a burrowing mammal of southern Africa that feeds chiefly on insects, is grayish with faint black markings, and lives in usually large colonies