asylum 
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asy·lum (ə sī′ləm)
noun
- Obsolete a sanctuary, as a temple, where criminals, debtors, etc. were safe from arrest
- a place where one is safe and secure; refuge
- the protection given by a sanctuary or refuge or by one country to refugees from another country
- an institution for the care of the mentally ill, or of the aged, the poor, etc.: in this sense, largely replaced by such terms as mental (or psychiatric) hospital, nursing home, etc.
Etymology: L < Gr asylon < asylos, inviolable < a-, without + sylon, right of seizure
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Alternate definitions:
Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Preposition: from
- persecution: Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
Converse of object
- seek: People seeking asylum are not normally allowed to work in the UK.
Adjective modifier
- lunatic: She ended up in a lunatic asylum shortly afterward.
Modifies a noun
- seeker: Each asylum seeker detained there brings profit to GSL.
Noun used with modifier
- lunatic: In the years before Hampshire's county lunatic asylum existed, the Winchester workhouse provided care for " lunatic and mentally handicapped paupers " .
The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.
It seems as though I were in a lunatic asylum, but I am never sure who is the attendant and who the inmate.
All America is an insane asylum.
Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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MLA Style
"asylum." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009
- Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
- <www.yourdictionary.com/asylum>
APA Style
asylum. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary
- Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/asylum
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