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.

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monastery British  

/ ˈmɒnəstərɪ, -strɪ /

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• monasterial
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• 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

See Examples For:

monastery monasteries

He said that his relative, Krishna Tamang, was swept away while praying at a monastery along the bank of the Trishuli River on Wednesday when the flood hit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

The National Trust said the walls were the "buried remains of monastery buildings including a cloister and various other buildings, as well as later Tudor alterations".

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

Like many Tibetan men, he served as a monk, spending 12 years at a southern India monastery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

The historic El Escorial monastery -- a major tourist attraction -- was shrouded in a grayish, smoke-filled mist.

From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026

Which, you can imagine, is a problem at a monastery.

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz

Greece will in return receive 48 objects pillaged by Bulgarian troops from churches and monasteries in northern Greece during World War I.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

He inherited great wealth from his father, and seized more from monasteries after breaking with the Catholic church, yet still ended up short on cash.

From Barron's ● Jan. 30, 2026

Later revivals identified by Mr. Roeck include the cultivation of ancient Greek learning in Europe’s far-flung medieval monasteries, and renewed attention to Roman poetry and history in Charlemagne’s ninth-century imperial court at Aachen.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025

This is a huge change for a community where monks were often recruited as children, and monasteries doubled up as schools for most boys.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2025

I began my recitation with the high spots—Thimphu, the capital; Mongar, a town in the east— and finished the cities before naming the monasteries.

From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson