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

Now my home is next to a golf course in “SoFlo,” graced with a menagerie that rivals “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

They include a selection of more than 90 lots from a "cement menagerie" - painted sculptures of animals, historical figures and rural scenes.

From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026

By the time she was 8, the menagerie had become so huge that we needed to string up a net over her bed to free up some floor space.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

Walter sprints to the menagerie to get me, but by the time I get there Earl has already hauled August away.

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

It is these boastful collections of animals, these autocratic menageries, from which the modern zoo, with its didactic plaques and $15 hot dogs, springs.

From New York Times ● Jun. 11, 2021

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

Pre–20th century zoos were just menageries full of concrete and cages where people could go and gawk at weird wildlife.

From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2016

These monkeys are very commonly seen in menageries.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 5 "Greek Law" to "Ground-Squirrel" by Various