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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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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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:
Pastry-hunting tourists are ruining this Italian mountain refuge.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
With an open-door policy, the mission has been a refuge for as many a 1,000 people, at one point putting up hundreds of cots nightly in its chapel to accommodate women from the street.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
The group was also able to find her family, who had made it to a camp where hundreds of thousands of people from el-Fasher have sought refuge.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Somehow, they have found refuge in a dilapidated row house with a working television, where their viewing includes nature shows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
At a place called Camp Davis, a holiday complex, forty-six people, mostly women and children, took refuge from the rising flood waters in the camp’s main building.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Mobile home parks in Carson are among the last refuges of affordable housing for many residents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 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
Theodore Roosevelt established 52 bird refuges, five national parks and 150 national forests.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
Instead of a continuous hard shoulder, there are refuges every mile.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2026
Noise and activity are the refuges of the bereaved and the guilty.
From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth
“People are homeless, they have been refuged to the mountains.”
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 21, 2022
Thus refuged, Clo slipped into the wrap, and arranged the floppy hood.
From The Lion's Mouse by A. M. (Alice Muriel) Williamson
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
Still, at the very bottom of her heart lay two thoughts in which her hope refuged itself.
From The Wide, Wide World by Susan Warner
Himself I refuged and his train relieved, 'Tis true, but am I sure to be received?
From Heathen Mythology by Various
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.
