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nunnery

American  
[nuhn-uh-ree] / ˈnʌn ə ri /

noun

plural

nunneries

  1. a building or group of buildings for nuns; convent.

nunnery British  
/ ˈnʌnərɪ /

noun

  1. the convent or religious house of a community of nuns

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of nunnery

First recorded in 1225–75, nunnery is from the Middle English word nonnerie. See nun 1, -ery

Vocabulary lists containing nunnery

"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 3

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Selection Vocabulary 4, Unit 2

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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.

Meanwhile Philippa, knowing that “visionaries are ungovernable,” fears that Barton’s presence in her nunnery portends catastrophe.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

Get me to a nunnery, but I’m weary of presenting filmland’s biggest honor to the kind of movie people rarely want to watch twice.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2026

Every day, the nunnery receives at least a dozen inquiries about joining the order from places as far as Mexico, Ireland, Germany and the United States.

From New York Times • Feb. 26, 2023

Last year’s most unlikely bestseller was “Matrix,” a novel by Lauren Groff about an obscure medieval poet named Marie de France and a 12th-century nunnery.

From Washington Post • Aug. 16, 2022

And on Port Meadow at the full moon there’s a werewolf that comes out from the old nunnery at Godstow.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman

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.