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
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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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:
The oak refectory tables and benches, crafted by Robert "Mouseman" Thompson and featuring his trademark mice carvings, had been donated by former pupils.
From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2025
What is the purpose of a room called a refectory?
From Slate ● Dec. 18, 2023
Thus admonished, we made our way to the refectory, expecting a small meal at best, perhaps a plain broth and dry bread.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 4, 2021
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
The king was moaning and squirming on the cold stones of the refectory.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
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
The nuns' dormitories, as well as those of the prisoners, are miracles of neatness; the refectories likewise.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 099, March, 1876 by Various
There were dressing rooms, refectories, lounging gardens, schools of art, a court for athletes, another court for gladiators.
From A Fantasy of Mediterranean Travel by S. G. Bayne
The sports were more interesting than refectories and dormitories, but it seemed a little churlish to refuse and we went together.
From Memoirs of My Dead Life by George (George Augustus) Moore
Monastic refectories had pulpits, which the reader occupied when he read to his brethren during meals.
From English Villages by P. H. (Peter Hampson) Ditchfield
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.
