shrine
Americannoun
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shrines
plural
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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.
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any place or object hallowed by its history or associations.
a historic shrine.
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any structure or place consecrated or devoted to some saint, holy person, or deity, as an altar, chapel, church, or temple.
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a receptacle for sacred relics; a reliquary.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a place of worship hallowed by association with a sacred person or object
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a container for sacred relics
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the tomb of a saint or other holy person
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a place or site venerated for its association with a famous person or event
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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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing shrine
World Religions
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Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
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Ancient Rome - Introductory
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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:
It remained to be seen if the guidance would be adhered to on Saturday, with the shrine saying staff would "provide guidance" at the entrance to those "unaware".
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
But at its heart stands an ancient tree that locals say has watched over the community for hundreds of years, and remains the spiritual home of the shrine.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
A shrine in the entryway of Ruth Higdon’s home in Ridgway.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
News of the 52-year-old’s death went viral, along with a six-minute video manifesto he left behind, prompting demonstrations in Canada, France, Australia, India and elsewhere, including a floral shrine in front of the U.N.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
“Annabeth must face the guardian of the shrine by herself. It is the only way. And Percy Jackson, you have less time than you realized to rescue your friend in the jar. You must hurry.”
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
The result at Deanna Evans is a series of shrines through which eyes consider us or hands, clasped in prayer or curved in a blessing, beckon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
In a salty touch, the first thing Kenna does is remove his roadside cross, claiming he hated memorial shrines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026
Speaking on behalf of the Adunni Olorisha Trust, Akinsanya said the carver's "craftsmanship is visible in the ritual figures, majestic pillars, and beautifully crafted roofs adorning many of the shrines".
From BBC ● Jan. 19, 2026
In Osaka, Japan, young women dressed in traditional kimono took part in a Shinto ritual procession to mark the end of the year at Sumiyoshi Taisha, one of Japan's oldest Shinto shrines.
From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2025
The settlement included a number of religious shrines, the earliest found so far, and on their plaster-covered walls we encounter the earliest paintings on a man-made surface.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
NOT alone because of their good meat and drink are three meals shrined at the heart of these following impressions.
From Atlantic Classics by Various
But for all my amazement the main thought in my mind was of a certain picture of a girl’s face that lay, shrined in a cedar-wood box, hidden away in my room upstairs.
From Marjorie by Justin H. (Justin Huntly) McCarthy
Let’s live to-day so it shall be, When shrined within the memory, As free from self-inflicted sorrows As are our hopes of our to-morrows.
From The Girl Wanted by Nixon Waterman
And laughing, twined She round her bare white throat red rubies shrined In pearls.
From Lilith The Legend of the First Woman by Ada Langworthy Collier
I say 'mutatis mutandis', because the historical development of a group of imaginary concepts shrined in tradition and romance can never be quite the same as that of the people who conceive them.
From Five Stages of Greek Religion by Gilbert Murray
"May all that cling to sprays of time, like me, Be sweetly wafted over sky and sea By rose-breaths shrining maidens like to thee!"
From The Poems of Sidney Lanier by Sidney Lanier
Bosomed with the Blessed One, He shall mind her of her Son, Once so folded from all harms In her shrining arms.
From The Second Book of Modern Verse; a selection from the work of contemporaneous American poets by Jessie Belle Rittenhouse
Bosomed with the Blessed One, He shall mind her of her Son, Once so folded from all harms, In her shrining arms.
From The Home Book of Verse — Volume 1 by Burton Egbert Stevenson
Elsewhere he speaks of Tweed shrining the music of his cradle song, and the requiem he would most prefer—may that day be long in coming!
From In the Border Country by W. S.
The wisest soul, by anguish torn, Will soon unlearn the lore it knew; And when the shrining casket's worn, The gem within will tarnish too.
From The Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore Collected by Himself with Explanatory Notes by William Michael Rossetti
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.
