sanctuary
Syllables: sanc·tu·ary/ˈsæŋktjʊəɹi/US/ˈsæŋkt͡ʃuˌɛɹi/
sanctuary noun: a place of safety, refuge, or protection.
Noun
sanctuary (countable and uncountable, plural sanctuaries)
- A place of safety, refuge, or protection.
- My car is a sanctuary, where none can disturb me except for people who cut me off.
- She saw him, even as she had last gazed upon him, pale, cold, and awful; but still he was there. The coffin was to her like a shrine; all that she held most dear and most precious was within its dark and silent sanctuary.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Last Night with the Dead”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 315
- An area set aside for protection.
- The bird sanctuary has strict restrictions on visitors so the birds aren't disturbed.
- A state of being protected, asylum.
- The government granted sanctuary to the defector, protecting him from his former government.
- The consecrated (or sacred) area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.
- Near-synonym: chancel (broadly synonymous)
- Synonyms:
- presbytery, presbyterium, chancel[Appendix:Glossary
sanctuary meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
sanctuary in Hindi
- place of safety or protection
- शरणालय śarṇālay
sanctuary in Tamil
- காப்பகம், காப்பிடம், புகலரண், புகலிடம், சரணாலயம், திருக்கோயிலகம்
sanctuary in Marathi
- अभयारण्य
sanctuary in Urdu
- sanctuary
- حرم haram
More languagesFewer languages
- sanctuary in Bengali
- অভয়ারণ্য, আশ্রয়স্থল
- sanctuary in Telugu
- గర్భగృహము garbhagr̥hamu
- sanctuary in Malayalam
- സങ്കേതം saṅkētaṁ, അഭയം abhayaṁ
- sanctuary in Kannada
- ಕಾಹುವೆಡೆ, ಸಲಹುವೆಡೆ, ನೆಲೆ, ಆಶ್ರಯ ಸ್ಥಾನ
- sanctuary in Gujarati
- અભયારણ્ય
- sanctuary in Odia
- ଅଭଯ଼ାରଣ୍ଯ଼, ଅଭଯ଼ାରଣ୍ଯ଼ |
- sanctuary in Sanskrit
- अभय ábhaya, पुरी purī, समाधि samādhi
- sanctuary in Nepali
- अभयारण्य
- sanctuary in Indonesian
- suaka
Examples of sanctuary in a sentence
- ‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War.[…]’1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- In January, federal agents indicted 16 sanctuary leaders from Texas and Arizona on charges of helping to harbor illegal immigrants from Central America.1985 February 9, “Political Asylum Demand”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 29, page 2:
Synonyms of sanctuary
- haven
- refuge
- shelter
- zoar
- presbytery
- presbyterium
- chancel[Appendix:Glossary
Forms of sanctuary
| plural | sanctuaries |
|---|
Origin of sanctuary
From Middle English seyntuarie, from Old French saintuaire, from Late Latin sanctuarium (“a sacred place, a shrine, a private cabinet, in Medieval Latin also temple, church, churchyard, cemetery, right of asylum”), from Latin sanctus (“holy, sacred”); see saint.
Words formed from sanctuary
Phrases with sanctuary
Questions about sanctuary
- What does sanctuary mean?
- Sanctuary means a place of safety, refuge, or protection.
- What is sanctuary in Hindi?
- Sanctuary in Hindi is शरणालय (śarṇālay). See Sanctuary meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use sanctuary in a sentence?
- ‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War.[…]’
- What part of speech is sanctuary?
- Sanctuary is a noun.
- How do you pronounce sanctuary?
- Sanctuary is pronounced /ˈsæŋktjʊəɹi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of sanctuary?
- The plural of sanctuary is sanctuaries.
Words near sanctuary in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sanctuary (page history and authors); sanctuary (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sanctuary (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); حرم (Urdu) (page history and authors); sanctuary (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); గర్భగృహము (Telugu) (page history and authors); അഭയം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); sanctuary (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sanctuary (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sanctuary (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); अभय (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); sanctuary (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sanctuary.wav.
Cite this entry: “sanctuary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sanctuary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.