Zooplankton
//ˌzoʊ.əˈplæŋ(k).tən// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Free-floating small protozoa, crustaceans (such as krill), etc. and the eggs and larvae from larger animals. countable, uncountable
- 2 animal constituent of plankton; mainly small crustaceans and fish larvae wordnet
Example
More examples"The United Nations estimates that each one of us uses nearly 140 kilograms of plastic each year. At least 6.4 million metric tons of that plastic has ended up in the oceans. Environmental activist Captain Charles Moore has found that in some areas, plastic outweighs zooplankton — the ocean's food base — and is entering the food chain. Our reporter talked to Capt. Moore about his efforts to document ocean pollution."
Etymology
From zoo- + plankton.
More for "zooplankton"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.