shrine

/ʃraɪn/

/ʃraɪn/

Other forms: shrines; shrined; shrining

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.

Definitions of shrine

1. noun

   a place of worship hallowed by association with some sacred thing or person
   examples:

   Caaba

   (Islam) a black stone building in Mecca that is shaped like a cube and that is the most sacred Muslim pilgrim shrine; believed to have been given by Gabriel to Abraham; Muslims turn in its direction when praying

   types:

   oracle

   a shrine where an oracular god is consulted

   stupa, tope

   a dome-shaped shrine erected by Buddhists

   type of:

   house of God, house of prayer, house of worship, place of worship

   any building where congregations gather for prayer
2. verb

   enclose in a place of worship
   synonyms: enshrine

   type of:

   close in, enclose, inclose, shut in

   surround completely