monastery

American  

[mon-uh-ster-ee] / ˈmɒn əˌstɛr i /

noun

monasteries plural

1. a house or place of residence occupied by a community of persons, especially monks, living in seclusion under religious vows.

   Synonyms:

   lamasery, friary, priory, abbey, cloister

2. the community of persons living in such a place.

---

monastery British  

/ ˌmɒnəˈstɪərɪəl, ˈmɒnəstərɪ, -strɪ /

noun

1. the residence of a religious community, esp of monks, living in seclusion from secular society and bound by religious vows

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• monasterial
  adjective

Inflected Forms

noun

• monasteries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of monastery

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Late Latin monastērium, from Late Greek monastḗrion “monk house,” originally, “hermit's cell,” equivalent to monas-, variant stem of monázein “to be alone” + -tērion neuter adjective suffix denoting place; see mono-

Explanation

A monastery is the building where monks live while they’re practicing their religion. Some monasteries are occupied by hundreds of monks, and sometimes only one monk lives there all alone. Christians have a church, Jews have a synagogue, and monks have a monastery, which serves not only as their holy place of worship, but also where they eat and sleep. You’ll use the word mostly when referring to monks, but there are some monasteries for Catholic nuns. The Greek word monastērion means “a place to live alone,” and monks and nuns go to a monastery to focus on their religion in isolation, away from the rest of the world.

Example Sentences

Even at the New Camaldoli Hermitage, a Benedictine monastery above Lucia, the road’s reopening and coming summer season have made a difference.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2026

He reputedly then moved into a monastery for three months to recharge, taking only books and living without a phone or access to the internet.

From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026

Some of the buildings at the Thahtay Kyaung monastery, where saffron-clad monks cleared rubble from the wreckage by hand in the days after the quake, have been razed.

From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026

The monastery, which was built in the 1950s, spans around 24,000 square feet, while the retreat center was added to the property in 1995, according to Mirr.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 24, 2026

Although his income was small, he had no taste for luxury—his experience in the monastery had solidified his natural asceticism while it developed his preference for solitude.

From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison