temple Hear it!

temple¹ Definition

tem·ple (tem′pəl)

noun

    1. a building for the worship of a divinity or divinities
    2. anything viewed as the dwelling place of God or a divinity
    1. any of the Jewish sacred edifices for worshiping Jehovah, successively built in ancient Jerusalem
    2. a synagogue, esp. of a Reform or Conservative congregation
  3. a church
  4. either of two sets (Inner Temple and Middle Temple) of London buildings housing two of England's four principal law societies: their site was formerly occupied by the London branch of the Knights Templars
  5. a building, usually of imposing size, etc., serving the public or an organization in some special way a temple of art, a Masonic temple

Etymology: ME < OE tempel & OFr temple, both < L templum, temple, sanctuary, orig., space marked out: for IE base see temper

temple¹ Related Forms
tem′·pled adjective
temple² Definition

tem·ple (tem′pəl)

noun

  1. either of the flat surfaces alongside the forehead, in front of each ear
  2. ☆ either of the sidepieces of a pair of glasses that fit across the temples and over the ears

Etymology: OFr < VL tempula, altered < L tempora, the temples, pl. of tempus, akin to tempus, time (in reference to pulse): see temper

temple³ Definition

tem·ple (tem′pəl)

noun

a device for keeping the cloth in a loom stretched to its correct width during weaving

Etymology: LME < MFr: see template

Temple Definition

Tem·ple (tem′pəl)

Temple, Sir William 1628-99; Brit. diplomat & writer

temple Synonyms

temple

n.

house of prayer, house of worship, synagogue, aedes (Latin), stupa, dagoba, pantheon, pagoda, tope; see also church 1.

Famous temples include: Herod's Temple, Solomon's Temple, Zerabbabel's Temple, Parthenon (Athens), Greek Doric Temple (Sicily), Pantheon (Rome), Temple of Fortuna Virilis (Rome), Dilwara Temple (India), Lama Temple (Peking), Pura Besakih (Bali), Shawe Dagon (Rangoon), Honganji Temple (Kyoto), Angkor Wat (Cambodia).

temple Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • god: They originated in Egypt where they were erected in front of temples of the sun god.

Converse of object

  • cleanse: Near the end of His public ministry, Christ found it necessary to cleanse the temple once again.
  • dedicate: So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God.
  • rebuild: He challenged and encouraged the people who had returned from exile to rebuild the temple.
  • desecrate: After desecrating the temple, you'll remember, during the Tribulation, he sets up himself as the one to be worshiped.
  • ruin: The ruined temple of Zeus where I am sitting, was the site of a wonder of the world.

Adjective modifier

  • Sikh: The Sikh temple was a marquee erected in the Pavilion grounds.
  • Jain: Hindu or Jain temples and domestic shrines require certain vessels and utensils for the performance of rituals.
  • millennial: Remember there's no veil in this millennial temple, why?
  • Doric: There are nine Doric temples in all, dedicated to various gods.
  • holy: Look at verse 4: " The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne.
  • mortuary: They are both then seen purified with holy water by a priest connected with the mortuary temple of Thothmes III.

Modifies a noun

  • precinct: This incident took place in Jerusalem, in the temple precincts.
  • treasury: Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury.
  • prostitute: Many of the pagan shrines featured temple prostitutes, with whom acts of fornication were deemed religious experiences.
  • cult: It has no suggestions of an advanced temple cult, extensive priesthood, or commitment to a sacrificial religion.
  • worship: They featured in the temple worship in Jerusalem in Old Testament times.

Noun used with modifier

  • Buddhist: It is said that Siamese were once sacred cats, guarding the Buddhist temples.
  • pagan: In the late 4th century AD Emperor Theodosius ordered the closure of all pagan temples.
temple Quotes

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

—Bible (NewTestament)

The great temple of fiction has no well-marked front portal; most devoteesarrivethrough a side door, and not dressed for worship.

—Updike,John Hoyer

   Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.One thing have I desired of the L, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the L all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the L, and to inquire in his temple.

—Bible (Old Testament)

   Open the temple gates unto my love, Open them wide that she may enter in.

—Spenser, Edmund

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin'eastward to the sea, There's a Burma girl a-settin', and I know she thinks o' me; For thewind isinthepalmtrees, an'thetemplebellsthey say: 'Come you back, you British soldier'; come you back to Mandalay!'

—Kipling, (Joseph) Rudyard

Every man is the builder of a temple, called his body, to thegod he worships, aftera style purely his own, norcan he get off by hammering marble instead.We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones.

—Thoreau, Henry David

In my dreams is a country where the State is the Church and the Church the people: three in one and one in three. It is a commonwealth in which work is play and play is life: three in one and one in three. It is a temple in which the priest is the worshipper and the worshipper the worshipped: three in one and one in three. It is a godhead in which all life is human and all humanity divine: three in one and one in three. It is, in short, the dream of a madman.

—Shaw, George Bernard

It was at Rome, on the fifteenth of October1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the City first started to my mind.

—Gibbon, Edward

  In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the L of hosts: the whole earth isfull of hisglory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

—Bible (Old Testament)

The dome of the Pantheon over the vault of theTemple of Peace.

—Bramante, Donato

   Jesus, whenhehad cried againwith a loud voice, yielded up theghost. And behold, the veil of thetemple wasrent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose.

—Bible (NewTestament)

And thesunwasdarkened, andtheveilofthetemplewas rent in the midst.

—Bible (NewTestament)