refuge means A state of safety, protection or shelter. It carries an Arena rating of 1485, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, refuge ranks #2,351 of 14,308 for Most Malleable Words, #2,382 of 14,414 for Most Elegant Words, #2,737 of 14,445 for Most Beautiful Words, #6,241 of 14,361 for Most Ingenious Words.
refuge is pronounced /ˈɹɛfjuːd͡ʒ/.
Why “refuge” is a great word
A place or state of safety, shelter, or protection from danger or distress. From Middle English refuge, from Old French refuge, from Latin refugium, from re- ("back") + fugere ("to flee"), first attested in English in the late fourteenth century. Unlike sanctuary, which implies sacred or inviolable immunity, or haven, which suggests a calm harbor from trouble, refuge carries the urgent motion of flight made concrete. It is the hollow at the base of an ancient oak during a storm, the guarded gate swinging open to the pursued, the quiet hour before dawn when the world holds its breath—the primal, undecorated fact of safety, which is the brief and necessary fiction that one can stop running.
Etymology
From Middle English refuge, from Old French refuge, from Latin refugium, from re- + fugiō (“flee”). Doublet of refugium.
noun
- A state of safety, protection or shelter.“Rocks, dens, and caves! But I in none of these / Find place or refuge.”
- A place providing safety, protection or shelter.“One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.”
- Something or someone turned to for safety or assistance; a recourse or resort.“Since its conception, the European Union has been a haven for those seeking refuge from war, persecution and poverty in other parts of the world.”
- An expedient to secure protection or defence.“Their latest refuge / Was to send him.”
- A refuge island.
- A kind of daily prayer or recitation.
verb
- To return to a place of shelter.“Among these macaques, although activity cycles are quite variable from location to location, refuging is a common characteristic.”
- To shelter; to protect.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- sanctuary 93% match — A place of safety, refuge, or protection. vs refuge →
- refugee 90% match — A person seeking refuge (as for shelter or protection), especially in a foreign country, out of fear or prospect of political, religious persecution, war, natural disaster, etc. vs refuge →
- asylum 90% match — A place of safety or refuge. vs refuge →
- fugitive 86% match — A person who flees or escapes and travels secretly from place to place, and sometimes using disguises and aliases to conceal their identity, as to avoid law authorities in order to avoid an arrest or prosecution, or to avoid some other unwanted situation. vs refuge →
- refugium 86% match — Any local environment that has escaped regional ecological change and therefore provides a habitat for endangered species. vs refuge →
- succour 85% match — Aid, assistance, or relief given to one in distress; ministration. vs refuge →
- incolumity 85% match — safety; security vs refuge →
- solace 85% match — Comfort or consolation in a time of loneliness or distress. vs refuge →