refuge
Americannoun
-
refuges
plural
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
-
shelter or protection, as from the weather or danger
-
any place, person, action, or thing that offers or appears to offer protection, help, or relief
accused of incompetence, he took refuge in lying
-
another name for traffic island
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of refuge
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin refugium, from refug(ere) “to turn and flee, run away” ( re- re- + fugere “to flee”; see fugitive) + -ium -ium
Explanation
To take refuge is to find a safe place. You might take refuge under a bridge in a hail storm, or in a basement during a tornado. Refuge comes from a French word meaning "to flee," and, in most cases, a refuge is a place to flee to in order to get away from people or places that are unsafe. A refuge is a safe place, such as a building or even another country, as in "they sought refuge from the war by leaving their homeland," or it is a simple, personal place of comfort — like a friend's couch.
Vocabulary lists containing refuge
The Star-Spangled Banner
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Persepolis
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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.
See Examples For:
A mysterious offer to work on an island refuge entices a man back to his former profession.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Down House, his home in Kent, became his refuge as well as his lab.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
A recession delivers neither, so this time Treasurys may not be the refuge they once were.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
Between recovering from her first heartbreak and overcoming burnout from her debut album “Queen of the Clouds,” the remote town has offered her a seaside refuge ever since childhood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
Every long-distance runner knows that the goal in a storm is to get to a safe place as soon as you can: a car, cover, any refuge.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
Mobile home parks in Carson are among the last refuges of affordable housing for many residents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
When the trees of the Singer Tract were at last clear-cut beginning in 1937, however, the wolves it had harbored were shot on sight, as they were when the leases of other refuges expired.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
Tehran's many parks, usually green lungs in a metropolis often choked by pollution, have become refuges since the fighting began.
From Barron's ● Apr. 2, 2026
Instead of a continuous hard shoulder, there are refuges every mile.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2026
A disturbing example of the latter seems to be building up on the national wildlife refuges at Tule Lake and Lower Klamath, both in California.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
“People are homeless, they have been refuged to the mountains.”
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 21, 2022
The ministers of the Lord, that have refuged themselves to this little sanctuary, both increase and honour the number of them that swear, their own callings, and themselves.
From The Covenants And The Covenanters Covenants, Sermons, and Documents of the Covenanted Reformation by James Kerr
Harold said as clearly as I speak now, and he refuged himself on Hugh’s sound shoulder, and stretched out, and lay all still.’
From Rewards and Fairies by Rudyard Kipling
Harold said as clearly as I speak now, and he refuged himself on Hugh's sound shoulder, and stretched out, and lay all still.'
From Rewards and Fairies by Rudyard Kipling
Thus refuged, Clo slipped into the wrap, and arranged the floppy hood.
From The Lion's Mouse by A. M. (Alice Muriel) Williamson
The long snug harbour of Mahon, which was in the days of canvas wings almost always filled with craft refuging, is now in this era of steam usually tenantless.
From The Recipe for Diamonds by Charles John Cutcliffe Wright Hyne
Debarred the healthier paths of life, man rushes for employment to the refuging muse; and rightly so, for he finds an employment ornamental and useful still.
From Fables of John Gay (Somewhat Altered) by John Gay
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.
