synagogue

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A building or place of meeting for worship and religious instruction in the Jewish faith.
2. n. A congregation of Jews for the purpose of worship or religious study.
3. n. The Jewish religion as organized or typified in local congregations.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. An organization of the Jews for the purposes of religious instruction and worship.
2. n. The building where such instruction and worship are maintained. The synagogue first came into prominence in the religious life of the Jewish people during the exile, and, since the destruction of the temple and the dispersion of the Jews, constitutes their customary place of worship. The organization of the synagogue consists of a board of elders presided over by a ruler of the synagogue (Luke viii. 41, 49, xiii. 14). The worship is conducted according to a prescribed ritual, in which the reading of the Scripture constitutes a prominent part. Formerly the officers of the synagogue exercised certain judicial functions, and the synagogue itself was the place of trial (Luke xii. 11, xxi. 12), but this is no longer the case.
3. n. An assembly of Jewish Christians in the early church.
4. n. Hence Any assembly of men.

Wiktionary

1. n. A place where Jews meet for worship.
2. n. A congregation of Jews for the purpose of worship or religious study.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A congregation or assembly of Jews met for the purpose of worship, or the performance of religious rites.
2. n. The building or place appropriated to the religious worship of the Jews.
3. n. The council of, probably, 120 members among the Jews, first appointed after the return from the Babylonish captivity; -- called also the Great Synagogue, and sometimes, though erroneously, the Sanhedrin.
4. n. A congregation in the early Christian church.
5. n. Obs. or R. Any assembly of men.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. (Judaism) the place of worship for a Jewish congregation