menagerie

American  

[muh-naj-uh-ree, -nazh-] / məˈnædʒ ə ri, -ˈnæʒ- /

noun

• menageries
  plural

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

2. a place where they are kept or exhibited.

3. an unusual and varied group of people.

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menagerie British  

/ mɪˈnædʒərɪ /

noun

1. a collection of wild animals kept for exhibition

2. the place where such animals are housed

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• menageries
  plural

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

menagerie menageries

He strolled San Francisco’s streets with them to promote his caged menagerie.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

The author said he moved to his new home in West Sussex because it had land for his "huge and expanding menagerie", and was quiet.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

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

His team scrounged up three, including a rental from actor Giovanni Ribisi, who has developed a reputation as a cinematographer and camera whisperer with a menagerie of restored relics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2025

The man opposite Uncle Al rises and turns—he’s the man from the menagerie tent, only now he’s minus the top hat.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

Lamb has worked on the Rose Parade for 52 years, decorating floats with the flowers that bring the fanciful tableaux and myriad menageries to life.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2024

In the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, both countries launched veritable menageries aboard rockets, although none both reached orbit and survived the journey before 1960’s Soviet dogs Belka and Strelka.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 12, 2021

From his collection he supplies museums and menageries with beasts, wild and domestic, and schools and lyceums with animal skeletons, skins, and other objects for the study of natural history.

From Slate ● Feb. 8, 2020

At these in-game “gyms” and “Poké spots,” Pokémon Go players can pit their monsters against other players’ menageries, or collect items that bolster their creatures’ power.

From New York Times ● Jul. 22, 2016

The giraffe, as we see it in the menageries, has probably been kept in captivity from babyhood.

From The World and Its People: Book VII Views in Africa by Anna B. Badlam