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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

sanctuary.

A place of safety, refuge, or protection.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈsæŋktjʊəɹi/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsæŋkt͡ʃʊəɹi/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsæŋkt͡ʃuˌɛɹi/General-American
  1. A place of safety, refuge, or protection.

    countable · uncountable
    My car is a sanctuary, where none can disturb me except for people who cut me off.
  2. An area set aside for protection.

    countable · uncountable
    The bird sanctuary has strict restrictions on visitors so the birds aren't disturbed.
  3. A state of being protected, asylum.

    countable · uncountable
    The government granted sanctuary to the defector, protecting him from his former government.
  4. The consecrated (or sacred) area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.