mosque

American  

[mosk, mawsk] / mɒsk, mɔsk /

noun

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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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

Example Sentences

Volunteers at the mosque noticed an axe inside the bag and escorted the white man into a separate room.

From BBC

The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism describes how Russian agents poured green paint over Jewish sites and deposited pig heads in front of mosques in Paris.

From The Wall Street Journal

The charismatic cleric could lean on a vast network of mosques and charitable organizations to coordinate the popular mobilization.

From The Wall Street Journal

For Umaru Riskuwa, 59, the custodian of the mosque, Ramadan offers "those who take insurgency as their business" an opportunity to make "people feel peace in their heart".

From Barron's

An imam of a local mosque has also been arrested.

From BBC

Related Words

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