Word.ws English Dictionary

refuge

/ˈɹɛfjuːd͡ʒ/

refuge noun: a state of safety, protection or shelter.

Noun

refuge (countable and uncountable, plural refuges)

  1. A state of safety, protection or shelter.
    • Rocks, dens, and caves! But I in none of these / Find place or refuge.1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  2. A place providing safety, protection or shelter.
    • One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
  3. Something or someone turned to for safety or assistance; a recourse or resort.
    • Since its conception, the European Union has been a haven for those seeking refuge from war, persecution and poverty in other parts of the world.2011 December 21, Helen Pidd, “Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis”, in the Guardian
  4. An expedient to secure protection or defence.
    • Their latest refuge / Was to send him.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • This is occaſioned by this, that too too often the Teaching of a Grammar School is the ordinary Refuge that deſperate Perſons as to any other Employment in good Learning betake themſelves to; whilſt but a few know themſelves ſuited with intellectual and moral Abilities, and fewer have that...a. 1639, Henry Wotton, An Essay on the Education of Children, in the First Rudiments of Learning, London: T. Waller, published 1753, page 17
  5. A refuge island.
  6. A kind of daily prayer or recitation.

Verb

refuge (third-person singular simple present refuges, present participle refuging, simple past and past participle refuged)

  1. (intransitive) To return to a place of shelter.
    • Among these macaques, although activity cycles are quite variable from location to location, refuging is a common characteristic.2011, Michael D. Gumert, Agustín Fuentes, Lisa Jones-Engel, Monkeys on the Edge
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To shelter; to protect.

refuge meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

refuge in Hindi

state of safety, protection or shelter
शरण śaraṇ, पनाह panāh
place providing safety, protection or shelter
शरणालय śarṇālay

refuge in Tamil

அடைக்கலம், சரண், புகலிடம், ஒதுக்கிடம், தஞ்சம், சார்வு

refuge in Marathi

refuge, asylum, shelter
अवलंब avalamba

refuge in Urdu

refuge
پناہ panāh, شرن śaran
More languagesFewer languages
refuge in Bengali
পানা pana
refuge in Telugu
శరణము śaraṇamu
refuge in Malayalam
അഭയം abhayaṁ, അടവി aṭavi
refuge in Kannada
ಗತಿ gati
refuge in Punjabi
ਤਕੀਆ takīā
refuge in Odia
ଅଧିକରଣ adhikaraṇa
refuge in Sanskrit
शरण śaraṇa, ओकस् okas
refuge in Nepali
शरण, शरणस्थल
refuge in Tagalog
kayap
refuge in Arabic
مَلْجَأ maljaʔ, مَلَاذ malāḏ
refuge in Vietnamese
sự ẩn náu, sự trú ẩn, nơi trú ẩn

Examples of refuge in a sentence

  • In societies without national insurance of any kind, almshouses are the last refuge of penniless people.
  • I was hoping that, by volunteering at this refuge, I could make a difference, however small.
  • Santa Fe is known as a refuge for celebrities, artists and authors.

All 40 example sentences with refuge

Synonyms of refuge

All synonyms of refuge

Forms of refuge

Noun
pluralrefuges
Verb
third-person singular presentrefuges
present participlerefuging
past participlerefuged
pastrefuged

Plural of refuge: refuges

Origin of refuge

From Middle English refuge, from Old French refuge, from Latin refugium, from re- + fugiō (“flee”). Doublet of refugium.

Words formed from refuge

Phrases with refuge

Questions about refuge

What does refuge mean?
Refuge means a state of safety, protection or shelter.
What is refuge in Hindi?
Refuge in Hindi is शरण (śaraṇ), पनाह (panāh), शरणालय (śarṇālay). See Refuge meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is refuge?
Refuge can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce refuge?
Refuge is pronounced /ˈɹɛfjuːd͡ʒ/.
What is the plural of refuge?
The plural of refuge is refuges.

Words near refuge in the dictionary

  1. refueller
  2. refuellers
  3. refuelling
  4. refuellings
  5. refuels
  6. refuge
  7. refuge island
  8. refuge islands
  9. refuged
  10. refugee
  11. refugee camp

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: refuge (page history and authors); refuge (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); अवलंब (Marathi) (page history and authors); شرن (Urdu) (page history and authors); അടവി (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಗತಿ (Kannada) (page history and authors); ਤਕੀਆ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ଅଧିକରଣ (Odia) (page history and authors); refuge (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “refuge.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/refuge. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.