cloister
Americannoun
-
cloisters
plural
-
a covered walk, especially in a religious institution, having an open arcade or colonnade usually opening onto a courtyard.
-
a courtyard, especially in a religious institution, bordered with such walks.
-
a place of religious seclusion, as a monastery or convent.
-
any quiet, secluded place.
-
life in a monastery or convent.
verb (used with object)
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cloisters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cloistered,
past participle, past
-
cloistering
present participle
-
to confine in a monastery or convent.
-
to confine in retirement; seclude.
-
to furnish with a cloister or covered walk.
-
to convert into a monastery or convent.
noun
-
a covered walk, usually around a quadrangle in a religious institution, having an open arcade or colonnade on the inside and a wall on the outside
-
(sometimes plural) a place of religious seclusion, such as a monastery
-
life in a monastery or convent
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cloistersimple
-
cloisterssimple
-
have cloisteredperfect
-
has cloisteredperfect
-
am cloisteringprogressive
-
are cloisteringprogressive
-
is cloisteringprogressive
-
have been cloisteringperfect progressive
-
has been cloisteringperfect progressive
Past
-
cloisteredsimple
-
had cloisteredperfect
-
was cloisteringprogressive
-
were cloisteringprogressive
-
had been cloisteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cloister
1250–1300; Middle English cloistre < Anglo-French, Old French, blend of cloison partition ( see cloisonné) and clostre (< Latin claustrum barrier ( Late Latin: enclosed place); see claustrum)
Explanation
A cloister is an enclosed garden, usually surrounded by covered walkways. Because such spaces are often featured in buildings that house religious orders, cloister can be used to mean "monastery" or "convent." In enclosed religious orders, monks and nuns withdraw from society to devote themselves to prayer and contemplation. In order to provide them with access to the outdoors while protecting them from contact with the secular world, the cloister became a common element of convents and monasteries. When used as a verb, cloister generally loses its religious connotation and means "to seclude" or "isolate." Don't get a lunch detention or you'll be cloistered in the classroom while all the other kids are running around outside.
Vocabulary lists containing cloister
A Midsummer Night's Dream
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"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act III
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Case Closed: Clud, Clus
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Unlike most campus fiction, its scope extends well beyond the cloister of the liberal arts classroom to whammy the entire university system, from its financial model to its function within a globalized economy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 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
All the homies at the cloister are going to be rocking these.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2023
He also shoveled snow, pruned the courtyard garden and made minor repairs in the cloister, according to his wife, Christina Carroll, who held his funeral at the monastery.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 19, 2023
Brother Bartholomew, the boys’ teacher, shuffled in from the adjacent cloister and pulled back his hood, revealing his flabby face, tiny eyes, and permanent sneer.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
Antoni Gaudí’s Basilica Sagrada Família contains familiar components of that style: a Latin Cross layout, Gothic arches, cloisters, representations of saints and apostles, rose windows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
It offers contemporary art, scary medieval weapons and Gothic cloisters.
From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2023
Gloucester's historic cathedral cloisters were transformed into the corridors of Hogwarts for the first two films and the Gothic building's lavatorium - a washing place - also features several times.
From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2021
Finally, as we’re not all venturing out of our pandemic cloisters just yet, here’s a fun Italian red to order online for your next pizza night.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 12, 2021
Pausing for an instant, Shadow looked about before descending the stone steps from the ramparts to the cloisters.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
But inside the cloistered environs of the Christian right, it reads as tough.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
She picked Gita Kaur, whose grandmother had kept Gita virtually cloistered in the family house in Nairobi until she was 19.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 25, 2025
Journalists who work for institutions are so cloistered and shut down at this point.
From Slate ● Nov. 17, 2025
A vast blaze has torn through the historic Bernaga Monastery in northern Italy, the Italian fire service said Sunday, forcing the evacuation of 22 cloistered nuns.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2025
“It can’t be Fleetwood. He’s cloistered in French Lick. I have to find Jakob. I have to go back to the Park.”
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
Others focus on exploring values or on navigating the dynamics of a family-owned business, cloistering the kids in hotel conference rooms or Aspen compounds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
Others are signing up for defense classes or are cloistering themselves.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 19, 2023
Both the paintings and the small gallery holding them feel cloistering yet claustrophobic.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 19, 2022
Also, reframe this into a gift of time—during this period of conscientious cloistering, as an opportunity to pursue talents and to “cultivate your garden.”
From Slate ● Mar. 19, 2020
I hang up and run to the bathroom, steamy and cloistering.
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
