variants
or less commonly gerbille
: any of numerous Old World burrowing desert rodents (Gerbillus and related genera) with long hind legs adapted for leaping
Examples of gerbil in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Some have snakes, or gerbils, or rabbits.
—
Bailey Allen, Cape Cod Times, 7 Mar. 2026
And the material takes wild swings from the expected (roboticized pre-flight airline announcements) to the inane (pet-store gerbils and a carton of raspberries costing the same amount of money), making the whole show feel almost claustrophobic.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 28 Feb. 2026
So here's all these women running around like gerbils having credit cards and jobs and money and apartments of their own.
—Katie Drummond, Wired News, 6 Jan. 2026
While it's still not known where this bacterium originated, ancient DNA points to a natural reservoir in wild gerbils in central Asia.
—New Atlas, 11 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gerbil
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Bailey Allen, Cape Cod Times, 7 Mar. 2026
And the material takes wild swings from the expected (roboticized pre-flight airline announcements) to the inane (pet-store gerbils and a carton of raspberries costing the same amount of money), making the whole show feel almost claustrophobic.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 28 Feb. 2026
So here's all these women running around like gerbils having credit cards and jobs and money and apartments of their own.
—Katie Drummond, Wired News, 6 Jan. 2026
While it's still not known where this bacterium originated, ancient DNA points to a natural reservoir in wild gerbils in central Asia.
—New Atlas, 11 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gerbil
Cite this Entry
“Gerbil.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gerbil. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
gerbil
noun
ger·bil
ˈjər-bəl 
: any of several Old World desert rodents with long hind legs
Medical Definition
gerbil
noun
ger·bil
variants
also gerbille
: any of numerous Old World burrowing desert rodents (Gerbillus and related genera) with long hind legs adapted for leaping
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
