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sanctuary

Pronunciation: /ˈsaŋ(k)tjʊəri/
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Definition of sanctuary

noun (plural sanctuaries)

  • 1 [mass noun] refuge or safety from pursuit, persecution, or other danger:his sons took sanctuary in the church [count noun]:she thought of her room as a sanctuary
  • 2a nature reserve:a bird sanctuary
  • a place where injured or unwanted animals of a specified kind are cared for:a donkey sanctuary
  • 3a holy place; a temple: the sanctuaries of Apollo and Athena
  • the inmost recess or holiest part of a temple: the inner sanctuary where the reliquary was kept
  • the part of the chancel of a church containing the high altar.

Origin:

Middle English (in sanctuary (sense 3)): from Old French sanctuaire, from Latin sanctuarium, from sanctus 'holy'. Early use in reference to a church or other sacred place where a fugitive was immune, by the law of the medieval Church, from arrest, gave rise to sanctuary (sense 1), sanctuary (sense 2)

sanctuary in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of sanctuary in the US English dictionary

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