: any of various herbivorous leaping marsupial mammals (family Macropodidae) of Australia, New Guinea, and adjacent islands with a small head, large ears, long powerful hind legs, a long thick tail used as a support and in balancing, and rather small forelegs not used in locomotion
Illustration of kangaroo
Examples of kangaroo in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Other unusual animals that can be legally owned in the state include ferrets and chinchillas, llamas, alpacas, giraffes, bison, antelopes and marsupials like kangaroos.—Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 9 June 2025 What evil lies in down and under? Surely a place filled with kangaroos and Men at Work can’t be all this sinister.—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 26 May 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 The clip ends with the camera zooming into the kangaroo's face, sparking questions.—Dani Di Placido, Forbes.com, 28 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for kangaroo
Word History
Etymology
Guugu Yimidhirr (Australian aboriginal language of northern Queensland) gaŋurru
: any of numerous leaping marsupial mammals of Australia, New Guinea, and adjacent islands that feed on plants and have a small head, long powerful hind legs, a long thick tail used as a support in standing or walking, and in the female a pouch on the abdomen in which the young are carried
Share