shelter

UK/ˈʃɛltə//ˈʃɛltɚ/

shelter noun: a place where a person or animal may find protection from the elements (especially rain, storms, or cold) sometimes as a place to sleep (such as a cave).

Image: Guðmundur D. Haraldsson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

shelter (plural shelters)

(countable) A place where a person or animal may find protection from the elements (especially rain, storms, or cold) sometimes as a place to sleep (such as a cave).
- The band of explorers found a shelter behind the waterfall, which they rested at for three days.
- rock shelter
(countable, usually) A bare-bones above-ground structure meant to provide temporary cover from the elements; usually small and with no door to close.
- The detective kept them in view. He made his way casually along the inside of the shelter until he reached an open scuttle close to where the two men were standing talking. Eavesdropping was not a thing Larard would have practised from choice, but there were times when, in the public interest, he...1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 7, in Well Tackled!
- bus shelter
(countable) A place for protection from deadly conditions outside, including military assault; usually partly or fully underground.
- tornado shelter
- fallout shelter
(countable) A refuge, sanctuary, or (by metonymy) institution that provides temporary housing or a place to sleep for those in need or in danger.
- (in compounds)
- women's shelter
Synonyms:

home
(countable, often) An animal shelter.
- I wish more people would look for pets at the shelter before turning to breeders!
- kill shelter
Synonyms:

home
(uncountable) That which provides protection or cover.
- Along with air, water, and food, shelter is often recognized as a human necessity.
(abstract, uncountable) The state of being protected or shielded.

Verb

shelter (third-person singular simple present shelters, present participle sheltering, simple past and past participle sheltered)

(transitive) To provide cover from damage or harassment; to shield; to protect.
- Those ruins sheltered once his sacred head.1663, John Dryden, Epistle to Dr. Charleton
- You have no convents […] in which such persons may be received and sheltered.1829, Robert Southey, Sir Thomas More; or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society
Synonyms:

harbor
(intransitive) To take cover.
- During the rainstorm, we sheltered under a tree.

shelter meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

shelter in Hindi

a refuge or other protection: शरण śaraṇ, शरणालय śarṇālay, पनाह panāh, पनाहगाह panāhgāh, बसेरा baserā
transitive, to provide cover: पनाह देना panāh denā, शरण देना śaraṇ denā

shelter in Tamil

பாதுகாப்பு உள்ள இடம், காப்பகம், புகலிடம்

shelter in Marathi

shelter, home, refuge: आश्रम āśram
shelter: निवारा nivārā
shelter, refuge: थारा thārā

shelter in Urdu

a refuge or other protection: پَناہ panāh, شَرَن śaran, پَناہ گاہ panāh gāh
transitive, to provide cover: پناہ دینا panāh denā
intransitive, to take cover: پناہ لینا panāh lenā

More languagesFewer languages

shelter in Bengali: আশ্রয় asroẏ, পানা pana
shelter in Telugu: చాటు cāṭu
shelter in Malayalam: ഷെൽറ്റർ ṣelṟṟaṟ, അഭയസ്ഥാനം abhayasthānaṁ, അഭയമന്ദിരം abhayamandiraṁ
shelter in Kannada: ಠಾಣೆ ṭhāṇe
shelter in Punjabi: پناہ panāh, ਪਨਾਹ panāh, ਸ਼ਰਨ śaran, ਕੱਜਣਾ kajjaṇā
shelter in Gujarati: શરણ śaraṇ, ઓથાર othār, ઓથ otha, ટેક ṭek
shelter in Odia: ଘର ghara, ଛାଇ chāi
shelter in Sanskrit: शरण śaraṇa
shelter in Assamese: অয়ন oyon
shelter in Nepali: आवास āvās, शरण śaraṇ
shelter in Arabic: مَلَاذ malāḏ, مَخْلَص maḵlaṣ
shelter in Malay: tempat perlindungan
shelter in Indonesian: penaungan, penampungan, tempat perlindungan
shelter in Thai: ที่หลบภัย, อาวรณ์ aa-wɔɔn, ร่มไม้ชายคา, ที่พักอาศัย
shelter in Vietnamese: chỗ che, chỗ ẩn, chỗ núp, che chở
shelter in Myanmar: အရိပ်အာဝါသ a.rip-awasa.

Examples of shelter in a sentence

The park is sheltered from the wind by a hill to the east.
We found a cave on the mountainside where we could take shelter.
They used the ledge and a few branches for a makeshift shelter.

All 40 example sentences with shelter

Synonyms of shelter

home
harbor

Forms of shelter

Noun
plural	shelters
Verb
third-person singular present	shelters
present participle	sheltering
past participle	sheltered
past	sheltered

Past tense of shelter: sheltered

Plural of shelter: shelters

Origin of shelter

From Middle English sheltron, sheldtrume (“roof or wall formed by locked shields”), from Old English sċildtruma, sċyldtruma (“a phalanx, company (of troops), a tortoise, a covering, shed, shelter”, literally “shield-troop”), from sċyld, sċield (“shield”) + truma (“a troop of soldiers”). Cognate with Scots schilthrum, schiltrum. More at shield, and Old English trymman (“to strengthen”), from trum (“strong, firm”) at trim. Doublet of sheltron (a kind of military formation), which is the more conservative of the two.

Phrases with shelter

Words that rhyme with shelter

Questions about shelter

What does shelter mean?: Shelter means a place where a person or animal may find protection from the elements (especially rain, storms, or cold) sometimes as a place to sleep (such as a cave).
What is shelter in Hindi?: Shelter in Hindi is शरण (śaraṇ), शरणालय (śarṇālay), पनाह (panāh). See Shelter meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is shelter?: Shelter can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce shelter?: Shelter is pronounced /ˈʃɛltə/ (UK).
What is the plural of shelter?: The plural of shelter is shelters.

Words near shelter in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-shelter.ogg.

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