monastery means A residence for monks or others who have taken religious vows. It carries an Arena rating of 1382, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, monastery ranks #2,526 of 17,058 for Most Vivid Words, #5,513 of 17,052 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #7,043 of 17,058 for Most Ingenious Words, #7,305 of 17,052 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
monastery is pronounced /ˈmɒnəstɹi/.
Why “monastery” is a great word
A residential community for individuals bound by religious vows of celibacy, poverty, and obedience, derived from Middle English monasterie, from Old French monastere, from Medieval Latin monastērium, from Ancient Greek μοναστήριον (monastḗrion, "hermitage, monastery"), rooted in μόνος (mónos, "alone"). Unlike "convent," which specifically denotes a community of nuns, or "cloister," which refers to the secluded architectural heart of such a place, a monastery is the entire, self-contained world built around solitude. It is the scent of damp stone and beeswax candles in a predawn chapel, the rhythmic scratch of a quill in a silent scriptorium, and the weight of a woolen robe worn light by years of prayer—a deliberate architecture of isolation that binds its inhabitants into the most demanding fellowship of all.
Etymology
From Middle English monasterie, from Old French monastere, from Medieval Latin monastērium (“monastery”), from Ancient Greek μοναστήριον (monastḗrion, “hermitage, monastery”), from μοναστήριος (monastḗrios, “alone, made alone”) + -ιον (-ion, “-ium”, suffix forming place names), from μονάζω (monázō, “to be alone”), from μόνος (mónos, “alone”) + -άζω (-ázō, verb-forming suffix). Doublet of minster.
noun
- A residence for monks or others who have taken religious vows.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.