refuge
Americannoun
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:
Ford said a total of 10 communities have had to evacuate, with many now seeking refuge in southern Ontario cities.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Now, Brazil has become one of the world’s top destinations for Cubans seeking refuge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
On days when a big attack is expected, some residents now head straight to metro stations -- the typical underground overnight refuge -- when they finish work, not waiting for the air alert.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
In “God Knows Where I Am,” Linda Bishop, diagnosed variously as having “bipolar disorder with psychosis” or schizoaffective disorder, drifts “between shelters, hospitals, and jail” before finding refuge in a deserted farmhouse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Manifest had been a refuge for him and he’d allowed himself to be lulled into thinking that bad things didn’t happen there.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
Mobile home parks in Carson are among the last refuges of affordable housing for many residents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
Other such eastern refuges were established, and it looked for a time as if the problem of how to preserve America’s most despised animal had been found.
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
The refuge manager believes that pesticide residues are now building up in the waters of these refuges, being conveyed there by return irrigation flow from heavily sprayed agricultural lands.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
“People are homeless, they have been refuged to the mountains.”
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 21, 2022
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 Kipling, Rudyard
Himself I refuged and his train relieved, 'Tis true, but am I sure to be received?
From Heathen Mythology by Various
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 Kerr, James
There I refuged myself till the night came, beat upon by the waves till the breath was well-nigh battered out of my body.
From With Drake on the Spanish Main by Strang, Herbert
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 Gay, John
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 Hyne, Charles John Cutcliffe Wright
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.
