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''menagerie'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''menagerie'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20250816013845-00-⌔

menagerie - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

menagerie (plural menageries)

  • A collection of live wild animals as an exhibition historically associated with the aristocracy and considered a precursor of modern zoos.
    • ✤ Synonym: zoo
  • The enclosure where they are kept.
    • ✤ Synonyms: zoo, zoological garden
    • ✤ In Sacramento a crazed woman opened the cages of a circus menagerie for fear the animals might starve to death, and had been mauled by a lioness.1
  • A diverse or miscellaneous group.
    • ✤ Synonyms: assortment, motley crew, hodgepodge, melange
    • ✤ [Brigitte] Bardot, the stunning, desirable beauty who once stood for sexual freedom for women, spent the latter part of her life at her home near Saint Tropez with her husband and a menagerie of pets.2
  • (obsolete, slang) The orchestra of a theatre.

Etymology

From French ménagerie, derived from ménager (“to keep house”), household. Housekeeping used to include taking care of domestic animals.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /məˈnæd͡ʒəɹɪ/, /mɪˈnæʒəɹɪ/
  • (US) IPA: /məˈnæd͡ʒəɹi/, /məˈnæʒəɹi/
  • Audio (Australian): 🔊
  • Hyphenation: me‧na‧ger‧ie

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. 1949, Bruce Kiskaddon, George R. Stewart, Earth Abides: ↩

  2. 2025 December 28, Elizabeth Blair, “Brigitte Bardot, sex goddess of cinema, has died”, in NPR: ↩

Link to original

Secondary

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