convent

[kon-vent, -vuhnt]

noun

1. a community of persons devoted to religious life under a superior.

   Synonyms: priory, abbey

2. a society or association of monks, friars, or nuns: now usually used of a society of nuns.

3. the building or buildings occupied by such a society; a monastery or nunnery.

   Synonyms: cloister

4. Obsolete.,  assembly; meeting.

convent

/ ˈkɒnvənt /

noun

1. a building inhabited by a religious community, usually of nuns

2. the religious community inhabiting such a building

3. Also called: convent school. a school in which the teachers are nuns

convent

1. A community of people in a religious order, especially nuns.

Word History and Origins

Origin of convent¹

1175–1225; < Medieval Latin conventus; Latin: assembly, coming together, equivalent to conven ( īre ) ( convene ) + -tus suffix of v. action; replacing Middle English covent < Anglo-French < Medieval Latin, as above

Word History and Origins

Origin of convent¹

C13: from Old French covent, from Latin conventus meeting, from convenīre to come together; see _convene

Example Sentences

In contrast to this lavish vision, at the show’s second venue, the convent of San Marco, visitors see the painter’s austere side.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

There, she was driven directly to another convent, part of the Patronato system, under Spain's Ministry of Justice.

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A convent girl with a creepy streak, Elizabeth sees beauty in biology, leaning over a corpse’s flayed back to appreciate the intricacy of its ventricles.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

She felt a calling to become a nun in the third grade, and after high school joined a convent in Dubuque, Iowa.

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Three Austrian nuns in their 80s have run away from the old people's home where they were placed and gone back to their former convent.

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