Madagascar
Americannoun
noun
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Madagascar was under French control from the late nineteenth century until 1960, when it gained full independence. Its culture mixes European, African, and South Asian influences.
The island of Madagascar is the fourth largest in the world.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They found Madagascar "hissing" cockroaches, a bulky insect named for its noisy defence mechanism, and dubia cockroaches, an invasive critter bred as a snack for pet lizards.
From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026
"If you are found to possess, breed or trade exotic cockroaches such as dubia cockroaches and Madagascar hissing cockroaches they will be seized and you could face penalties under federal law."
From BBC • Jun. 5, 2026
Researchers classified the dinosaur as an unenlagiid, a group of small to medium sized theropod dinosaurs known from Late Cretaceous rocks in South America, Antarctica, Australia, and Madagascar.
From Science Daily • May 29, 2026
Mauritius and Madagascar didn’t respond to requests for comment.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 3, 2026
Before we trace Khoisan survival beyond the Bantu tide, let’s see what archaeology tells us about Africa’s other great prehistoric population movement—the Austronesian colonization of Madagascar.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
