sanctum
Americannoun
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sanctums,
plural
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sancta
plural
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a sacred or holy place.
-
an inviolably private place or retreat.
noun
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a sacred or holy place
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a room or place of total privacy or inviolability
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sanctum
1570–80; noun use of neuter of Latin sānctus; see Sanctus
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:
At last we breach the inner sanctum, the library’s only meeting room.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
The former is heralded with a blast of horns; the latter guards its inner sanctum behind Tobie Windham’s officious sentry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
We first meet her in her inner sanctum, her extremely girly bedroom in the depths of her extremely girly sorority, Delta Nu.
From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2026
“We stand on the walls, sentinels of the inner sanctum, against the assault of AI slop,” Karp said in his letter to shareholders.
From Barron's ● May 4, 2026
In passing the door of that sanctum some time after, I caught the words—
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
The perfume, Lavs, is a concentrated version of the one he made to spritz on the papal garments before they were delivered to the Vatican’s inner sancta.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 15, 2017
Bunhill Fields has long fascinated historians and romantics alike and is considered the terra sancta of English Nonconformity.
From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2011
On an indifferently argued staff paper he scribbles: "0 sancta sim-plicitas."
From Time Magazine Archive
According to individual taste, one can greet it with a hosannah, a miserere nobis or a sancta simplicitas.
From Time Magazine Archive
Two Christian inscriptions of the fifth century have been found near, upon one of which are the words "sancta ecclesia"; and close by was discovered the torso of a prisoner of war, apparently Roman work.
From The Shores of the Adriatic The Austrian Side, The Küstenlande, Istria, and Dalmatia by F. Hamilton (Frederick Hamilton) Jackson
They make for an amusing odd couple entering the inner sanctums of the uber-wealthy in the New York metro area, often asked to do extra maintenance tasks.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
She allows the camera into the sanctums of her tanning booth and facial treatment sessions, but there’s an exhibitionism in these moments instead of conveying honesty and openness.
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2024
And Mickle’s thematic overreach doesn’t obscure the crisp and detailed view he offers us of Apple’s inner sanctums.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 3, 2022
The show also has a couple of architecturally scaled pieces that qualify as secular sanctums.
From New York Times ● Jul. 15, 2021
Ever since I had set off by car through the wide golden fields of Orgoreyn four days ago, beginning my successful progress towards the inner sanctums of Mishnory, I had been missing something.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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