adytum
Americannoun
plural
adyta-
(in ancient worship) a sacred place that the public was forbidden to enter; an inner shrine.
-
the most sacred or reserved part of any place of worship.
noun
Etymology
Origin of adytum
1665–75; < Latin < Greek ádyton (place) not to be entered, equivalent to a- a- 6 + -dyton, neuter of -dytos, verbid of dýein to enter
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.
The sense of enclosure was intended to evoke the sacred areas of classical temples, as is made clear by the title given to the Adytum/Aduton paintings of 1969.
From The Guardian
Hierostoli, who had access to the Adytum, to clothe the statues of the gods; doctors, embalmers; hierophori, or the bearers of sacred emblems; pterophori, or bearers of the fans carried before the gods; præcones, or pastophori, bearers of the holy images, and keepers of the sacred animals; hierolaotomi, or masons of the priestly order, besides innumerable painters, sculptors, sprinklers of holy water, and flappers to drive away the flies.
From Project Gutenberg
This Egyptian Savior appears also to have been known as Zulis, and with this name—Mr. Wilkison tells us—"his history is curiously illustrated in the sculptures, made seventeen hundred years B. C., of a small, retired chamber lying nearly over the western adytum of the temple-" We are told twenty-eight lotus plants near his grave indicate the number of years he lived on the earth.
From Project Gutenberg
Later that night, I peeked into the center’s adytum, a dark and lovely stone chapel whose altar glowed with candlelight.
From New York Times
It is, therefore, an adytum and occasions shame.
From Project Gutenberg
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.
