rookery
Americannoun
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rookeries
plural
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a breeding place or colony of gregarious birds or animals, as penguins and seals.
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a colony of rooks.
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a place where rooks congregate to breed.
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a crowded tenement house.
noun
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a group of nesting rooks
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a clump of trees containing rooks' nests
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a breeding ground or communal living area of certain other species of gregarious birds or mammals, esp penguins or seals
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a colony of any such creatures
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archaic an overcrowded slum tenement building or area of housing
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of rookery
Vocabulary lists containing rookery
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.
See Examples For:
And he said the percentage of animals that have died in the Año Nuevo rookery is relatively small: Only about 5% of weaned pups and 6% of adult males have died.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026
For the study, scientists collected brain samples from four sea lions, one fur seal and a tern found dead at the most affected sea lion rookery in Argentina.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 28, 2024
The expedition was the first to sight an Emperor Penguin rookery and obtain an egg of the species.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2022
In the rookery, jet-black newborn pups wriggled close to their mothers.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 3, 2022
With fumbling hands, the old man lit a candle and carried it to the workroom beneath the rookery stair, where his ointments, potions, and medicines stood neatly on their shelves.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
The sea lion breeding and pupping season is fast approaching at main rookeries such as the Channel Islands, according to Giancarlo Rulli, associate director of public relations for the Marine Mammal Center.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026
The females, they say, may make lots of connections at the rookeries where they congregate to give birth.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 15, 2023
Owner and director of the Anglesey Sea Zoo Frankie Hobro has seen first-hand the impact water scooters have on wildlife, including sea bird colonies, seal rookeries and pods of dolphins and porpoises.
From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2023
The bulk of these activities take place in rookeries that are often inaccessible to the flightless or boatless.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 1, 2022
Perhaps if one less dragonfly had drowned in the Carboniferous swamps, the intelligent organisms on our planet today would have feathers and teach their young in rookeries.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
