menagerie

[muh-naj-uh-ree, -nazh-]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR menagerie ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a collection of wild or unusual animals, especially for exhibition.

a place where they are kept or exhibited.

an unusual and varied group of people.

Origin of menagerie

1705–15; < French: literally, housekeeping. See ménage, -ery

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for menagerie

exhibition, collection, aquarium

Examples from the Web for menagerie

Contemporary Examples of menagerie

A pile of straw right by the menagerie lit on fire, and reached the tent in seconds.
Thrills and Too Many Spills: The Dangers of the Circus
Marina Watts
May 5, 2014
Guangdong has long been known for its menagerie of exotic ingredients.
Poisoning of CEO in Cat Stew Stirs Outrage Among Rights Activists
Dan Levin
January 6, 2012
What we get is a menagerie of grotesques, which seems to be a Ryan Murphy staple.
The Craziest Show on TV
Jace Lacob, Maria Elena Fernandez
November 7, 2011
We sat in front of a modernist gas fireplace as a menagerie of tourists came and went about us.
Pablo Schreiber on His New Off-Broadway Play
Kevin Sessums
February 1, 2011
A year later, the press speculated that Bubbles died when a fire tore through Jackson's Santa Barbara menagerie.
Bubbles Speaks
Ben Montgomery
July 5, 2009

Historical Examples of menagerie

They had not been herded together like animals in a menagerie, as in Colonel Corkran's day.
It Happened in Egypt
C. N. Williamson
Are you thinking we are live kangaroos escaped from a menagerie?
The Channings
Mrs. Henry Wood
Does she still keep a menagerie for sick dogs and lost cats?
The Manxman
Hall Caine
Then to a meek huérfanita, feeding her menagerie, I made oration.
Jane Journeys On
Ruth Comfort Mitchell
"Your friends sound like a menagerie," remarked Zeb, uneasily.
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
L. Frank Baum

British Dictionary definitions for menagerie

menagerie

noun

a collection of wild animals kept for exhibition

the place where such animals are housed

Word Origin for menagerie

C18: from French: household management, which formerly included care of domestic animals. See ménage

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for menagerie

"collection of wild animals kept in captivity," 1712, from French ménagerie "housing for domestic animals" (16c.), from Old French manage (see menage).