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# menagerie

noun (a menagerie, menageries)

«menagerie» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A collection of wild or unusual animals kept to be shown to people, especially in the past (an early kind of zoo). [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/menagerie/#m1)
2. (informal) A mixed group of many different animals, or of strange and different people or things. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/menagerie/#m2)

### In the lessons

In history, kings kept menageries, like the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London (which had lions and a polar bear!). Today we have zoos, which also focus on care and saving species. In everyday talk, a family with lots of pets has «a menagerie». Phrases: «a menagerie of pets», «the royal menagerie».

### Examples

- The Tower of London once had a royal menagerie with lions. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/menagerie/#x1)
- Our house is a menagerie: two dogs, a cat, three rabbits and a snake. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/menagerie/#x2)
- The circus travelled with a menagerie of wild animals. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/menagerie/#x3)
- Grandma's garden is a menagerie of birds and squirrels. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/menagerie/#x4)
- The story is about a strange menagerie of creatures in a magic wood. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/menagerie/#x5)
- A menagerie was an early kind of zoo. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/menagerie/#x6)
- The class pets became a little menagerie. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/menagerie/#x7)
- The play had a menagerie of odd characters. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/menagerie/#x8)
- In vain the Giant showed me his menagerie, which was entirely composed of children who would not work! [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/menagerie/#x9)

### Note

Countable: one menagerie, two menageries. Pronounced «meh-NAJ-er-ee». Spelling: m-e-n-a-g-e-r-i-e. A loanword from French. Not a maths word.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «menagerie» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/menagerie/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«menagerie» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/menagerie.html) on Mova free.