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:
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
She enters the mosh pit fearlessly, dodging flailing arms to two-step — a synchronized dance move that requires punching and running in place — unleashing her energy in the punk sanctum.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 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
The current controversy centres around two idols of Dwarapalakas - or the door guards that stand just outside the sanctum sanctorum where the main deity sits.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2025
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
According to individual taste, one can greet it with a hosannah, a miserere nobis or a sancta simplicitas.
From Time Magazine Archive
On an indifferently argued staff paper he scribbles: "0 sancta sim-plicitas."
From Time Magazine Archive
But the Roman dealt in real things, not imagery; nakedly setting forth his sancta in the dry light of a realism which had no reticence joined to a great reticence of the emotions.
From Rome by Hope Malleson
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
The show also has a couple of architecturally scaled pieces that qualify as secular sanctums.
From New York Times ● Jul. 15, 2021
Schools can either be sanctums of knowledge or cesspools of intolerance.
From Slate ● Dec. 3, 2020
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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