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monastery Definition

mon·as·tery (mänə ster′ē)

noun pl. -·ter′·ies

  1. a building or residence for monks or others who have withdrawn from the world for religious reasons
  2. those living there

Etymology: ME monasterie < LL(Ec) monasterium < LGr(Ec) monastērion < Gr monazein, to be alone < monos, alone: see mono-

monastery Related Forms
mon′·as·te·rial (-stirē əl) adjective
monastery Synonyms

monastery

n.

abbey, priory, religious community; see cloister 1. See syn. study at cloister.

monastery Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • found: Founded a monastery, believed to be a place of miracles at Tywyn, Wales where he was later buried.
  • dissolve: To protect the southern coast Henry immediately set about building a series of forts using the proceeds from the dissolved monasteries.
  • endow: Lord Rhys, as he was generally known, assumed patronage of Strata Florida and endowed the monastery with generous gifts.
  • restore: In 972 he was sent by the Emperor Otto I to restore the monastery of St Gall.
  • ruin: It took 4 days to clear the mountain and occupy the small, now ruined, monastery at its summit.
  • abandon: Most of the action happens in abandoned monasteries, churches and catacombs, but there are also some urban maps.

Preposition: in

  • reign: Only one of the four ranges around the cloister survived the dissolution of the monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII.

Adjective modifier

  • Benedictine: Indeed, it was among the richest Benedictine monasteries in England.
  • cistercian: A visit to Caldey Island with its Cistercian monastery is a must.
  • Franciscan: Your accommodation will be in either an old Franciscan monastery or one of the village hotels.
  • Carmelite: While still young she entered the Carmelite monastery at Lisieux and practiced virtues of humility, evangelical simplicity and a firm confidence in God.
  • Tibetan: A Tibetan monastery in the rural south of India.
  • Dominican: The Dominican monastery was founded in 1482, burnt down during the Turkish assaults in 1571, later restored and fortified with a tower.

Preposition: on

  • island: David I later founded a monastery on the island, with May becoming a place of pilgrimage.

Noun used with modifier

  • Trappist: It comes from the Netherlands, and is brewed in a Trappist monastery.
  • Buddhist: A progressive Buddhist monastery in Thailand; founded 1932.
  • Benedictine: The king, ashamed, gave him some of his land, on which later a Benedictine monastery was built.
  • hilltop: There is even a hilltop monastery at least 1,500 years old.
  • century: Roche Abbey Roche Abbey a 12th century monastery, which fell victim to the wrath of Henry V111.
  • island: Oswald took refuge on the island monastery of Iona off the western Scottish coast.
monastery Quotes

Inveni fateor in rege monachum, claustrum in curia, in palatio monasterii disciplinam. I confess that I found in the king a monk, in the court a cloister, and in the palace the discipline of a monastery.

—St Aelred of Riveaulx   d.1167

We Americans have always considered Hollywood, at best, a sinkholeofdepraved venality. And,ofcourse, it is. It is not a Protective Monastery of AestheticTruth.

—Mamet, David Alan

Browse dictionary entries near monastery

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  6. monarchal
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  1. monastic
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