museum
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- intermuseum adjective
Etymology
Origin of museum
1605–15; < Latin mūsēum place sacred to the Muses, building devoted to learning or the arts (referring especially to the scholarly institute founded in Alexandria about 280 b.c.) < Greek Mouseîon, equivalent to Moûs ( a ) Muse + -eion suffix of place
Explanation
A museum is a place where interesting objects are displayed — like paintings, historical documents, and dinosaur skeletons. There are all kinds of museums. Art museums are some of the most well-known, such as the Louvre in Paris. The Natural History Museum, with its dinosaur skeletons and stuffed bears and lions, is one of New York's most famous. In Washington, DC, the Smithsonian is a group of impressive museums. Around the country, there are museums dedicated to sports, African-American culture, spies, and just about everything else. At any museum, you'll find a lot of tourists.
Vocabulary lists containing museum
"A Suitcase of Seaweed" and "Immigrants Today"
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Unit 5
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The full scope of the 1,200-plus objects will only be revealed when guests step through the museum doors into more than 100,000 square feet of gallery space on the first day of fall.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 30, 2026
Three months later, the museum laid off 15 full-time employees, a number of whom were from the education and public programming team.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 30, 2026
There is a museum on the site, which is now a permanent memorial, in an open space surrounded by the city's skyscrapers.
From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026
Mini robot dogs with Musk and Bezos heads roam a Berlin museum.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 29, 2026
The museum was closed on Mondays, but it wasn’t abandoned.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
