museum

noun

mu·​se·​um myu̇-ˈzē-əm 

: an institution devoted to the procurement, care, study, and display of objects of lasting interest or value

American Museum of Natural History

also : a place where objects are exhibited

an art museum

Synonyms

• gallery
• exhibition

Examples of museum in a Sentence

a museum of natural history

a trip to the Museum of Natural History

Recent Examples on the Web

To watch Lipe-Smith’s Caroline cuddle in bed watching TV on her iPad, or bopping around to JoJo Siwa, or pensively finishing a Popsicle while sitting beside her grandmother at a museum, is to have the sheer malevolence of our current administration and its adherents thrown into sharp relief. —Sara Holdren, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2025

The Art+Film gala will take place against the backdrop of the museum’s nearly completed David Geffen Galleries. —Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 1 Oct. 2025

The maps of those three little museums have been superimposed on each other, enabling visitors to enter the three ghost spaces simultaneously, crossing layer after layer of cultural history, with the various walls and plans collapsing into one another. —Joanna Warsza, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2025

Some food-safety inspections were temporarily halted, trash accumulated in national parks, federal landmarks and museums closed, and some airports shuttered checkpoints due to a shortage of Transportation Security Administration officers to screen passengers. —Jordan Green, Nashville Tennessean, 1 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Latin Museum place for learned occupation, from Greek Mouseion, from neuter of Mouseios of the Muses, from Mousa

First Known Use

circa 1660, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing museum

• historical museum
• museum piece
• wax museum

Rhymes for museum

• corneum
• hordeum
• luteum
• lyceum
• athenaeum
• coliseum
• colosseum
• mausoleum
• mycelium
• endothelium
• periosteum
• peritoneum

Kids Definition

museum

noun

mu·​se·​um myu̇-ˈzē-əm 

: a building in which interesting and valuable things (as works of art or historical or scientific objects) are collected and shown to the public

Etymology

from Latin Museum "a place devoted to the Muses, a place for the study of special arts and sciences," from Greek Mouseion (same meaning), from Mouseios "of the Muses," from Mousa "Muse, goddess of an art or science" — related to music

Word Origin

The ancient Greeks worshipped nine sister goddesses, each of whom was called a Mousa. In English we now refer to them as the Muses. The Greeks believed that each Muse was the goddess of a particular art or science. A place that was dedicated to these goddesses—and to the arts and sciences for which they stood—was called a Mouseion. The Greek Mouseion became Museum in Latin, from which it was borrowed into English about 300 years ago.