ashram
Americannoun
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a secluded building, often the residence of a guru, used for religious retreat or instruction in Hinduism.
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the persons instructed there.
noun
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a religious retreat or community where a Hindu holy man lives
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a house that provides accommodation for destitute people
Etymology
Origin of ashram
First recorded in 1915–20, ashram is from the Sanskrit word āśrama
Explanation
An ashram is a place where people go on spiritual or religious retreats. Yoga teachers sometimes visit ashrams in India to learn more about the practice. For religious Hindus, an ashram is a place to meditate and be instructed in spiritual or artistic matters. Many Indian ashrams are located in remote places, and believers sometimes travel there on long pilgrimages. The Sanskrit root of ashram is srama, "giving the meaning of making an effort towards liberation," also "toll" or "fatigue."
Vocabulary lists containing ashram
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 city is also sought out by fans of Beatles because the Fab Four had spent weeks at an ashram there in 1968.
From BBC • Oct. 14, 2025
The ashram she built in the Santa Monica mountains was as subversive as any free school or fringe arts cohort, just without the shrillness of dogma.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2025
The Hammer Museum brings Coltrane’s ashram back to Los Angeles with its “largest” exhibition of the season, “Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal.”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2025
Ms. Payton had been in Philadelphia for five years when she got Covid and moved into the basement of the ashram.
From New York Times • May 22, 2024
She tells him her parents went to India once, to an ashram somewhere, before she was born.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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.
