shelter
Americannoun
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shelters
plural
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something beneath, behind, or within which a person, animal, or thing is protected from storms, missiles, adverse conditions, etc.; refuge.
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the protection or refuge afforded by such a thing.
He took shelter in a nearby barn.
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protection from blame, incrimination, etc.
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a dwelling place or home considered as a refuge from the elements.
Everyone's basic needs are food, clothing, and shelter.
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a building serving as a temporary refuge or residence for abandoned animals, people who are homeless, etc.: animal shelter.
homeless shelter;
animal shelter.
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Finance. tax shelter.
verb (used with object)
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shelters,
present (3rd person singular)
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sheltered,
past participle, past
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sheltering
present participle
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to be a shelter for; afford shelter to.
The old barn sheltered him from the rain.
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to provide with a shelter; place under cover.
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to protect, as by shelter; take under one's protection.
Parents should not try to shelter their children from normal childhood disappointments.
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Finance. to invest (money) in a tax shelter.
verb (used without object)
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shelters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sheltered,
past participle, past
-
sheltering
present participle
-
to take shelter; find a refuge.
Students sheltered in the gymnasium when they heard the tornado sirens.
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Finance. to invest money in a tax shelter.
noun
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something that provides cover or protection, as from weather or danger; place of refuge
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the protection afforded by such a cover; refuge
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the state of being sheltered
verb
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(tr) to provide with or protect by a shelter
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(intr) to take cover, as from rain; find refuge
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(tr) to act as a shelter for; take under one's protection
Synonym Usage
See cover.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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self-shelternoun
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shelterernoun
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shelterlessnessnoun
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shelterlessadjective
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unshelteringadjective
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shelteringlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sheltersimple
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shelterssimple
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have shelteredperfect
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has shelteredperfect
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am shelteringprogressive
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are shelteringprogressive
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is shelteringprogressive
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have been shelteringperfect progressive
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has been shelteringperfect progressive
Past
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shelteredsimple
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had shelteredperfect
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was shelteringprogressive
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were shelteringprogressive
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had been shelteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shelter
First recorded in 1575–85; of uncertain origin; perhaps alteration of obsolete sheltron “testudo” (a protective vault formed of Roman legionaries' shields), Old English scieldtruma, equivalent to scield + truma “body of men in battle formation”; see origin at shield ( def. ), trim
Explanation
Shelter is one of the basic human needs along with food, water, and companionship. It is a structure that protects you from the elements and gives you a place to live. If you get lost in the woods during a rain storm, the first thing you should do is seek shelter, or a protected place to stay. A shelter is also a place to go for help, e.g. a homeless shelter is for those with nowhere to sleep, a bomb shelter protects people in a war zone and an animal shelter houses dogs and cats without a home. You've probably heard people talking about tax shelters, which are investments that protect your money from being taxed by the government.
Vocabulary lists containing shelter
There's No Word Like Home
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Beowulf vocabulary
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The Syrian Refugee Crisis Continues
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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:
The wych elm is the last remaining tree of a row that was planted along the original promenade in the 19th century, to shelter it from the sea breeze.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
The home was imagined as both shelter and command center.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
It is just the latest example of investors taking shelter in tech stocks when interest rates climb.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
The findings, published in PeerJ, reveal that the wasps are moving into structures that evolved specifically to shelter protective ant colonies.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
As night fell, they made a shelter of bent hazel saplings and leaf mould by a muddy stream.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Along with international donors, the company is preparing winter evacuation packs, mobile shelters and bus services in areas where evacuations become too frequent.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
“When schools are destroyed, when bus shelters are targeted, when transport is attacked, we seek the civil liability of the parents,” Darmanin told local radio station RTL.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Going into greater detail than earlier reports, Nardello & Co. included summaries of site visits to dozens of shelters and permanent housing projects.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
Steel is vital for producing military equipment, as well as for making shelters and repairing countless buildings damaged by Russia.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
All that talk of the war we were fighting in Korea made a lot more people on television discuss bomb shelters.
From "March Forward, Girl" by Melba Pattillo Beals
HUD’s definition includes sheltered persons living in some kind of temporary housing.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
The home’s porte cochère once sheltered her Volkswagen after trips to the market.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2026
According to the Texas Tribune, Garces Perez asked if he could park somewhere sheltered from traffic.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026
"It reminds me of Covid," Djamila, a Parisian retiree said in late June, as city residents sheltered indoors from the heat.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
You weren’t as sheltered from the sun as I’d have liked, but there was nothing we could do about that.
From "The Bridge Home" by Padma Venkatraman
It also found that moving and sheltering the most vulnerable — children in foster care, incarcerated youth and adults, people with disabilities — “lacked a countywide coordination model.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
He said they were now sheltering in a school that is being used as a refuge for those who survived.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
"There is no ceasefire, there is nothing," Abu Ahmed, a displaced man who had been sheltering nearby, told Reuters news agency.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
More than 300 relief camps have been set up in the state, sheltering over 10,000 people, after rains triggered landslides and swollen rivers breached their banks.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
The bushes nearby exploded with startled buffalo, who had apparently been sheltering under the wrong tree.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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.
