sanctuary

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
Close to the sanctuary is a village, the inhabitants of which are held in the highest veneration, their huts and tents being consecrated to the Mahometan devotion, and, as well as the sanctuary, forming asylums for malefactors, which are never violated even by the Emperor.

View all »
Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun A sacred place, such as a church, temple, or mosque.
  2. noun The holiest part of a sacred place, as the part of a Christian church around the altar.
  3. noun A sacred place, such as a church, in which fugitives formerly were immune to arrest.
3 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (12)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • The first thing I noticed when I entered the sanctuary was the old priest's body, sprawled on the stone floor. —  EQMM,March-April2006
  • I did not see how our sanctuary could be attacked, but this spell of peace was no solution of the problem. —  THE ISLAND OF SHEEP
  • The energy is collected in a place known as the sanctuary, located in the center of the complex. —  Death Gate Cycle 2 - Elven Star
  • Bobbie Sullivan, 57, who determined that 19 times around the sanctuary is a mile, said she planned her weeks around a sign-up sheet by the door. —  International Herald Tribune - World News, Analysis, and Global Opinions
  • That hour in the sanctuary was the most emotionally exhausting hour I've spent in recent months. —  Snickollet
More examples »
 

Tags

sanctuary hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 131 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

shrine ·  temple ·  chapel ·  altar ·  monastery ·  tomb ·  cloister ·  fortress ·  haven ·  edifice ·  cavern ·  vault
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French sainctuarie, from Late Latin sānctuārium, from Latin sānctus, sacred; see sanctify.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English sanctuary, seintuarie, seyntuarie, sentwary, seyntwarie, from Old French saintuaire, santuaire, saintuairio, F. sanctuaire = Provencal sanctuari = Spanish Portuguese Italian santuario, from Late Latin sanctuarium, a sacred place, a shrine, a private cabinet, Middle Latin also temple, church, churchyard, cemetery, right of asylum, from Latin sanctus, holy, sacred: see saint.
  2. from sanctuary, n.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈsæŋktʃjuəri/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a week.

Recently looked up

cojones · blackout · societe · phrase · rentier

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich