monastery

American  

[mon-uh-ster-ee] / ˈmɒn əˌstɛr i /

noun

• monasteries
  plural

1. a house or place of residence occupied by a community of persons, especially monks, living in seclusion under religious vows.

   Synonyms:

   lamasery, friary, priory, abbey, cloister

2. the community of persons living in such a place.

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monastery British  

/ ˈmɒnəstərɪ, -strɪ /

noun

1. the residence of a religious community, esp of monks, living in seclusion from secular society and bound by religious vows

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• monasterial
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• monasteries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of monastery

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Late Latin monastērium, from Late Greek monastḗrion “monk house,” originally, “hermit's cell,” equivalent to monas-, variant stem of monázein “to be alone” + -tērion neuter adjective suffix denoting place; see mono-

Explanation

A monastery is the building where monks live while they’re practicing their religion. Some monasteries are occupied by hundreds of monks, and sometimes only one monk lives there all alone. Christians have a church, Jews have a synagogue, and monks have a monastery, which serves not only as their holy place of worship, but also where they eat and sleep. You’ll use the word mostly when referring to monks, but there are some monasteries for Catholic nuns. The Greek word monastērion means “a place to live alone,” and monks and nuns go to a monastery to focus on their religion in isolation, away from the rest of the world.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

monastery monasteries

Inside the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a historic monastery, the day begins with morning prayers at the Refectory Church of Saints Anthony and Theodosius.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

Like many Tibetan men, he served as a monk, spending 12 years at a southern India monastery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

The monastery includes a prayer chamber carved into the mountainside, where the worshippers had gathered for the special prayer service.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

In 1934, the state bought it for 9.6 million koruna, a record price for an art purchase by the government at the time, after the monastery rejected even higher foreign offers.

From Barron's

There were no books in Elinor's kitchen, not one, but they ate an excellent supper there at a wooden table that came, so Elinor assured them, from the scriptorium of an Italian monastery.

From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke

Government regulations bar anyone under 18 from participating in religious activities, starving the monasteries of young devotees.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

Thetford, England, population about 25,500, has been mostly quiet since King Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries kneecapped the local economy in 1540.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

He inherited great wealth from his father, and seized more from monasteries after breaking with the Catholic church, yet still ended up short on cash.

From Barron's ● Jan. 30, 2026

The idea resonated, reminding her of monasteries she’d once visited on a trip to France.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2025

The Carmelites are cloistered—they do not leave their monasteries unless it’s essential.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly