museum

[ myoo-zee-uh m ]

/ myuˈzi əm /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR museum ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a building or place where works of art, scientific specimens, or other objects of permanent value are kept and displayed.

Nearby words

Origin of museum

1605–15; < Latin mūsēum place sacred to the Muses, building devoted to learning or the arts (referring especially to the scholarly institute founded in Alexandria about 280 b.c.) < Greek Mouseîon, equivalent to Moûs(a) Muse + -eion suffix of place

Related formsin·ter·mu·se·um, adjective

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

Examples from the Web for museum

Prado was the first name I recognized here since I used to live a few blocks from the Prado museum in Madrid when I was 20.
The Life and Hard Times Of The Family A Cuban Defector Left Behind|Brin-Jonathan Butler|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The question implicit in this effort, “If you were starting a museum, what would you put in your collection?”
The Best Coffee Table Books of 2014|Robert Birnbaum|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Blues music is often treated like a museum piece, a relic from a bygone day, but this band will make you want to get up and dance.
The Best Albums of 2014|Ted Gioia|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The British Museum claims that “cultural diplomacy” can somehow discourage human rights violators.
Britain Has Lost Its Marbles: Elgin Loan Will Appease Putin|Geoffrey Robertson|December 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST

The museum, as a public institution, must answer these questions.
Britain Has Lost Its Marbles: Elgin Loan Will Appease Putin|Geoffrey Robertson|December 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This charter, which is in the Saxon language, is still preserved in the British Museum.
Chelsea|George Bryan
There is a statue of her by the steps of the British Museum.
Letters from America|Rupert Brooke
Another snake, quite small, struck us as being something new; him we bottled in spirit and despatched to the British Museum.
Unexplored Spain|Abel Chapman
The portrait of Wellington in red chalk is in the British Museum.
Modern Illustration|Joseph Pennell
A model of a house of this kind is also in the British Museum.
Museum of Antiquity|L. W. Yaggy

British Dictionary definitions for museum

museum

/ (mjuːˈzɪəm) /

noun

a place or building where objects of historical, artistic, or scientific interest are exhibited, preserved, or studied

Word Origin for museum

C17: via Latin from Greek Mouseion home of the Muses, from Mousa Muse

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 museum

museum

1610s, "the university building in Alexandria," from Latin museum "library, study," from Greek mouseion "place of study, library or museum, school of art or poetry," originally "a seat or shrine of the Muses," from Mousa "Muse" (see muse (n.)). Earliest use in reference to English institutions was of libraries (e.g. the British Museum); sense of "building to display objects" first recorded 1680s.

museum

noun

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Nearby words

Origin of museum

Examples from the Web for museum

museum

noun

Word Origin for museum

museum