monastery

  • 1Monastery — of St. Nilus on Stolbnyi Island in Lake Seliger near Ostashkov, Russia, ca. 1910 …

    Wikipedia

  • 2monastery — (n.) c.1400, from O.Fr. monastere monastery (14c.) and directly from L.L. monasterium, from Eccles. Gk. monasterion a monastery, from monazein to live alone, from monos alone (see MONO (Cf. mono )). With suffix terion place for (doing something) …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 3Monastery — Mon as*te*ry, n.; pl. {Monasteries}. [L. monasterium, Gr. ?, fr. ? a solitary, a monk, fr. ? to be alone, live in solitude, fr. mo nos alone. Cf. {Minister}.] A house of religious retirement, or of secusion from ordinary temporal concerns,… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 4monastery — *cloister, convent, nunnery, abbey, priory …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 5monastery — [n] place where monks live abbey, cloister, friary, house, lamasery, priory, religious community; concepts 368,439,516 …

    New thesaurus

  • 6monastery — ► NOUN (pl. monasteries) ▪ a community of monks living under religious vows. ORIGIN Greek monast rion, from monazein live alone …

    English terms dictionary

  • 7monastery — [män′ə ster΄ē] n. pl. monasteries [ME monasterie < LL(Ec) monasterium < LGr(Ec) monastērion < Gr monazein, to be alone < monos, alone: see MONO ] 1. a building or residence for monks or others who have withdrawn from the world for… …

    English World dictionary

  • 8monastery — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ great ▪ the great monastery of St Quentin ▪ ancient, medieval, old ▪ ruined ▪ …

    Collocations dictionary

  • 9MONASTERY —    Western European monastic communities began to develop into more formalized brick and stone architectural compounds during the reign of Charlemagne in the 800s. Monasteries, which function as a place of prayer and are inhabited by people… …

    Historical Dictionary of Architecture

  • 10monastery — UK [ˈmɒnəst(ə)rɪ] / US [ˈmɑnəˌsterɪ] noun [countable] Word forms monastery : singular monastery plural monasteries a building where a group of monks (= a religious community of men) lives and works …

    English dictionary