menagerie
Americannoun
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a collection of wild or unusual animals, especially for exhibition.
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a place where they are kept or exhibited.
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an unusual and varied group of people.
noun
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a collection of wild animals kept for exhibition
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the place where such animals are housed
Etymology
Origin of menagerie
1705–15; < French: literally, housekeeping. See ménage, -ery
Explanation
A menagerie (pronounced muh-NA-juh-ree, with NA as in "national") is a collection of live animals that people visit, study, or keep as pets. If you really want a backyard menagerie of farm animals after visiting the petting zoo, take a long sniff and remember what comes with them. Pet lovers can have a menagerie of cats, dogs, and birds or exotic animals such as snakes, ferrets, and piranhas. Zoos have animal collections like the menagerie of sea creatures in the aquarium and the swinging apes in the jungle menagerie. And a science or medical center may have a menagerie of rats for studying behavior. If you want a menagerie, an ant farm is a good one: lots of animals in a container, always working, and never stinking up the place.
Vocabulary lists containing menagerie
Life of Pi
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "M"
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"Wild Animals Aren't Pets" and "Let People Own Exotic Animals"
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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.
At Barnum’s American Museum in New York City, visitors could see America’s first aquarium, a menagerie of exotic animals, performances by magicians and ventriloquists, and waxworks.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 25, 2026
She has created large canvases, embellished formal gloves and a gown, and—most shockingly—a decorated taxidermied goat covered in a menagerie of stitched animals, including a mischievous red-winged blackbird and a cheery possum.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 3, 2025
On songs like “Slushy” and “Predictable Girl,” she intertwines a menagerie of robotic, spacey sirens with tinges of Jersey club beats and ’90s-influenced R&B chords.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 14, 2025
Paignton Zoo, which opened in 1923, was developed from the private menagerie of eccentric millionaire Herbert Whitley, says the zoo on its website.
From BBC • Sep. 30, 2025
They stop, perplexed, wondering what happened to the menagerie through which they entered.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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.
