shrine
Americannoun
-
a building or other shelter, often of a stately or sumptuous character, enclosing the remains or relics of a saint or other holy person and forming an object of religious veneration and pilgrimage.
-
any place or object hallowed by its history or associations.
a historic shrine.
-
any structure or place consecrated or devoted to some saint, holy person, or deity, as an altar, chapel, church, or temple.
-
a receptacle for sacred relics; a reliquary.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
a place of worship hallowed by association with a sacred person or object
-
a container for sacred relics
-
the tomb of a saint or other holy person
-
a place or site venerated for its association with a famous person or event
-
RC Church a building, alcove, or shelf arranged as a setting for a statue, picture, or other representation of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or a saint
verb
Other Word Forms
- shrineless adjective
- shrinelike adjective
- unshrined adjective
Etymology
Origin of shrine
before 1000; Middle English schrine, Old English scrīn (cognate with German Schrein, Dutch schrijn ) < Latin scrīnium case for books and papers
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.
The site of the fire is still screened off behind white plastic sheets, but in front of it are heaps of flowers and soft toys at a shrine that keeps growing.
From BBC
Once a showcase of American power, the Oval Office has now become a shrine to inelegance.
From Salon
More than 100 people have had to shelter in a shrine on a mountain top in Japan after heavy snowfall cut off access by road.
From BBC
Some left bunches of flowers and candles, while others placed messages at a makeshift shrine.
From BBC
"It's producing fragments of building stone, so it might be structural. We might be thinking of a small shrine or a chapel," says Dr Andy Seaman, from Cardiff University, who is leading the dig.
From BBC
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.
