sanctum
/ˈsæŋktəm/
sanctum noun: a place set apart, as with a sanctum sanctorum; a sacred or private place; a private retreat or workroom.
Noun
sanctum (plural sanctums or sancta)
- A place set apart, as with a sanctum sanctorum; a sacred or private place; a private retreat or workroom.
- As he descended the stairs, two persons passed him, so remarkably dissimilar in their persons, dress, and carriage, that he could not forbear to look earnestly at them, as forming a criterion of the mixed character of company admissible in such places, and which was to him (with his preconceived...1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXIX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 200
- For myself, I had no need to make any change; I should not be called upon to quit my sanctum of the schoolroom; for a sanctum it was now become to me, – "a very pleasant refuge in time of trouble."1848, Charlotte Bronte, chapter 17, in Jane Eyre
sanctum meaning in Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
sanctum in Bengali
- sanctum, sanctuary, sacred precinct
- হারাম haram, হেরেম herem
sanctum in Malayalam
- shrine, holy place, sanctuary
- പവിത്രസ്ഥാനം, പുണ്യസ്ഥലം, പുണ്യസ്ഥാനം, സന്നിധി, സന്നിധാനം, അൾത്താര
- retreat, refuge, bolt-hole
- പിൻവാങ്ങുമിടം, സങ്കേതം, അഭയസഥാനം, അഭയസങ്കേതം, അതിഗോപ്യസ്ഥാനം, വിമ്രസങ്കേതം
sanctum in Kannada
- ಪವಿತ್ರ ಸ್ಥಳ, ಏಕಾಂತ ಸ್ಥಳ, ಸ್ವಂತ ಕೋಣೆ
Examples of sanctum in a sentence
- One of Shiva's revered Jyotirlingas is protected within the inner sanctum of the city's Kashi Vishwanath temple.
- Gleefully and legally intruding upon the sanctum of the wealthy linksters, we walked the mitigation meadows.
- The deities installed inside the sanctum sanctorum, are the chlorite figures of Balarama, Krushna and Subhadra.
Forms of sanctum
| plural | sanctums |
|---|---|
| plural | sancta |
Origin of sanctum
From Latin sānctum (“that which is holy”).
Words formed from sanctum
Phrases with sanctum
Questions about sanctum
- What does sanctum mean?
- Sanctum means a place set apart, as with a sanctum sanctorum; a sacred or private place; a private retreat or workroom.
- What is sanctum in Bengali?
- Sanctum in Bengali is হারাম (haram), হেরেম (herem). See Sanctum meaning in Bengali.
- What part of speech is sanctum?
- Sanctum is a noun.
- How do you pronounce sanctum?
- Sanctum is pronounced /ˈsæŋktəm/.
- What is the plural of sanctum?
- The plural of sanctum is sanctums.
Words near sanctum in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sanctum (page history and authors); হারাম (Bengali) (page history and authors); sanctum (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); sanctum (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-sanctum.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sanctum.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sanctum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.