mosque

American  

[mosk, mawsk] / mɒsk, mɔsk /

noun

• mosques
  plural

1. a Muslim temple or place of public worship.

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mosque British  

/ mɒsk /

noun

1. Also called: masjid, musjid. a Muslim place of worship, usually having one or more minarets and often decorated with elaborate tracery and texts from the Koran

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mosque Cultural  

1. A Muslim house of worship with at least one minaret, a tall, slender tower with balconies, used for calling the faithful to prayer.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• mosques
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mosque

1600–10; earlier mosquee < Middle French < Italian moschea ≪ Arabic masjid, derivative of sajada to worship, literally, prostrate oneself; the -ee seems to have been taken as diminutive suffix and dropped

Compare meaning

How does mosque compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• masjid vs. mosque

Explanation

The mosque is the traditional Muslim place of worship. Architecturally, it often features a minaret, or onion-shaped dome, on top. Mosque stems from the Arabic word masjid, meaning "temple" or "place of worship." This building is very important religiously and politically, and can be a modest structure or an architectural masterpiece, such as the Great Mosque of Córdoba in Spain. Muslims, or practitioners of Islam, come together here and pray in rows facing in the direction of the holy city of Mecca.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mosque mosques

In others she stands outside a mosque while kids play with the bug’s feet and sits in an abandoned movie theater, her tail wrapped around the seats.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

Nearly a week after Sept. 11, he took the extraordinary step — unthinkable for Donald Trump — of visiting a mosque and exhorting people to not use violence.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

New York will soon boast the largest mosque in the state -- one of more than 100 added since 2001 in New York -- while Muslims are a rising cultural and political force.

From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026

The security guard used his radio to put the mosque on alert before he was killed, saving the lives of more than 100 children who were playing in the back of the property, authorities said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

“I didn’t want to tell you because you would say no. As the chair of the mosque social committee, I have to be hospitable.”

From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali

Today, though, the 33-year-old historian finds a New York transformed: one with its first Muslim mayor, public prayers in Times Square and new mosques rising across the city.

From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026

Its mix of Spanish military fortifications, churches, mosques and even a synagogue is unusual for North Africa.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

Agents with their faces covered up to their eyes, in unmarked black SUVs with tinted windows, would wait outside churches, mosques, schools, daycares, courtrooms, and hospitals.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

Turkey's religious affairs directorate mentioned the stand-up show, without naming Göktaş, in its weekly sermon on Friday which is read out in all the country's mosques.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

It passed churches, meditation halls, mosques, drop-in clinics for Mellowers and an entire floor devoted to the Lion Spirit Medium, who relayed messages from mhondoro, the spirit of the land.

From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer

Related Words

• chapel
• church
• holy place
• house of worship
• place of worship
• sanctuary
• shrine
• synagogue