refectory
Americannoun
-
refectories
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of refectory
1475–85; < Late Latin refectōrium, equivalent to Latin refec-, combining form of reficere to renew ( see refect) + -tōrium -tory 2
Explanation
A fancy word for a dining hall, or a place for communal meals, is a refectory. It is usually used to describe a dining hall in a religious institution, like where monks eat together. The word refectory comes from the Latin word reficere which means "to restore, renew." A meal together is a great way of restoring unity to a group. Nothing renews community like a great dinner, and the conversation that occurs around it. Lunch in your school's refectory? Maybe not so much.
Vocabulary lists containing refectory
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"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
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Jane Eyre
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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:
What is the purpose of a room called a refectory?
From Slate ● Dec. 18, 2023
There, in the abbey’s refectory, the colors of the 16th-century “Last Supper” fresco by Andrea del Sarto are still bright, unlike those of Leonardo’s famous “Last Supper” in Milan.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 23, 2022
The painting, in oil on canvas, was commissioned by her own convent of Santa Caterina; once completed, it was hung on the nuns’ refectory wall.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 19, 2019
Another Jesuit, Father Michael O'Sullivan, met him briefly in the refectory one evening during that visit.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2018
A wine cellar was carved out below, and a modest refectory vaulted above it.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Designers are conjuring all kinds of nonkitchen-y arenas, like the refectories of old boarding schools, a signature of Christopher Peacock, the English-born kitchen designer once known for his all-white offerings.
From New York Times ● Oct. 2, 2017
Building after building, mysterious and broken, corridors, halls, refectories, cells; the dwelling of a faith so alien that I could not reconstruct the life that gave it being.
From The ninth vibration and other stories by L. Adams (Lily Adams) Beck
At the end of the long dining-hall, beyond an ikonostas, was a church, as is customary in these refectories.
From Russian Rambles by Isabel Florence Hapgood
On the ground-floor, vast halls, heated during winter, and well aired during summer, serve during the day as a place for conversation, workshops, or refectories.
From Mysteries of Paris, V3 by Eugène Sue
Alike at London and at Oxford, they found a cordial welcome from the Dominicans, eating in their refectories, and sleeping in their dormitories, until they were able to erect modest quarters in both places.
From The History of England From the Accession of Henry III. to the Death of Edward III. (1216-1377) by William Hunt
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