sanctuary
/ˈsæŋkt͡ʃuˌɛɹi/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.93 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The consecrated (or sacred) area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "‘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.[…]’"
- "In January, federal agents indicted 16 sanctuary leaders from Texas and Arizona on charges of helping to harbor illegal immigrants from Central America."
- "The bird sanctuary has strict restrictions on visitors so the birds aren't disturbed."
- "The government granted sanctuary to the defector, protecting him from his former government."
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsæŋkt͡ʃuˌɛɹi/
- British English: /ˈsæŋktjʊəɹi/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Places.