shrine

American  

[shrahyn] / ʃraɪn /

noun

1. 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.

2. any place or object hallowed by its history or associations.

   a historic shrine.

3. any structure or place consecrated or devoted to some saint, holy person, or deity, as an altar, chapel, church, or temple.

4. a receptacle for sacred relics; a reliquary.

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verb (used with object)

shrined, shrining

1. to enshrine.

shrine British  

/ ʃraɪn /

noun

1. a place of worship hallowed by association with a sacred person or object

2. a container for sacred relics

3. the tomb of a saint or other holy person

4. a place or site venerated for its association with a famous person or event

5. 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

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verb

1. short for enshrine

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

Explanation

Set up some candles and a photograph of someone important in your life in the corner of a room where you spend time reflecting silently, and you've created a shrine. Shrine comes from the Latin scrinium meaning "case or box for keeping papers." Think of a shrine as a niche or case in which the spirit of someone special is kept. It could be a statue or some other form of commemoration to either a person or a relic. A shrine can be as small as a tiny mantel in your house or it can be as massive as a building commemorating, or shrining, a sacred person.

Example Sentences

A bronze shrine in the west wall suited what President Calvin Coolidge would later call “a great spiritual document.”

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

In Iraq's holy city of Najaf, the majestic shrine of Imam Ali stands quiet, its vast courtyards no longer echoing with the multilingual whispers of pilgrims from before the Middle East war.

From Barron's • May 4, 2026

Each time their shrine was consulted, the message was said to be the same: they would return.

From BBC • May 2, 2026

"Friday prayer is an obligation for us, but performing it at Al-Aqsa is something entirely different," said Sharif Mohammad, 39, referring to the site’s status as Islam's third-holiest shrine.

From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026

Marking the place where the villagers were killed, the shrine alerted future generations to the false sense of safety offered by the hill.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

Related Words

• altar
• chapel
• church
• holy place
• mausoleum
• sanctuary
• temple