bestiary
Americannoun
-
bestiaries
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of bestiary
1615–25; < Medieval Latin bēstiārium, neuter of Latin bēstiārius. See beast, -ary
Explanation
A bestiary is a book from the medieval era with pictures and stories of animals. Bestiaries includes real animals as well as mythical animals such as unicorns. A medieval source of information about animals is a bestiary — a book with descriptions of animals real and imaginary, often with moralizing tales of their exploits. In this respect, bestiaries had a lot in common with fairy tales, which also often end with a moral. Bestiaries often had gorgeous artwork portraying the real and fanciful creatures. If you like reading about centaurs as much as bears, you'd probably enjoy reading a bestiary, which is related to the word beast.
Vocabulary lists containing bestiary
Impossible Creatures
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Ballad and Dagger
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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.
See Examples For:
A veritable bestiary of nearly 100 sculptures by dozens of artists offers the opportunity to bask in the diverse glory of the animal—and creative—kingdoms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Designer Virginie Viard collaborated again with contemporary artist Xavier Veilhan who used a bestiary in house founder Coco Chanel’s apartment as a creative springboard for the carnival-like spring decor.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 24, 2023
Naked mole-rats and blind mole-rats are now safely within the research bestiary.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2022
With terrifying beasts like the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer, Stranger Things has slowly been building up an impressive bestiary of monsters.
From The Verge ● May 28, 2022
It is perhaps this characteristic that makes the usual bestiary so outlandish to the twentieth-century mind.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
Such animals were found in bestiaries, which were illustrated books offering the most popular sources of information about animals, real or imaginary, during the Middle Ages.
From BBC ● Feb. 17, 2024
Medieval bestiaries were books that served as compendiums of creatures both fantastic and real.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2019
She is a magpie, plucking language from myriad arenas: bestiaries, business documents, tourist pamphlets.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 13, 2016
Fantastical iron bestiaries and vines covered its products, from candlesticks to staircases.
From New York Times ● Dec. 12, 2014
In this sense, bestiaries are part of our inheritance.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
