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abbey

abbey

81 6.5
A large building where monks or nuns live and worship
  • noun
  • /ˈæbi/
translation icon : abadía
  • "And it's one of the best preserved abbeys in the country," Bill Miller had pointed out.
  • abbot of the abbey
  • abbey church
  • monks of the abbey

Now Mark Kane was a student in New Battle Abbey College.

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Examples

  • The monks gather every evening to pray in the abbey chapel.

  • And it was a three mile March from Westminster Abbey to Windsor Castle, also known as the Long Walk.

  • Somewhere there must be an abbey where all the records are kept.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Now Mark Kane was a student in New Battle Abbey College.

  • I'll take them to the abbey tomorrow and tell the monks what happened.

  • I was going to go through the accounts of Roche Abbey.

  • Children's hour at the abbey.

  • I have requested the abbey's records be brought to you in the library.

  • They learned that beneath their remote abbey was a terrible secret.

  • We visited the ancient abbey where crisp light allowed for pictures of weathered stonework.

    Academic text (2003)

Synonyms

monastery
vsabbey
108 6.0

A building where monks live, work, and pray together

is a larger organized complex often led by an abbot or abbess
convent
vsabbey
64 5.6

A building where nuns live and pray together

is broader often larger and governed by an abbot or abbess
nunnery
vsabbey
12 8.1

A building where religious women live and work

is the same role but often part of a larger complex led by clergy
priory
vsabbey
7 9.9

A building where monks or nuns live and pray

is usually larger and run by an abbot or abbess
cloister
vsabbey
4 9.1

A place where monks or nuns live away from the rest of the world

is a fuller complex including church governance and public functions
friary
vsabbey
1 9.3

A building where religious men called friars live and work

is more enclosed and led by an abbot or abbess rather than friars
motherhouse
vsabbey
  • Specialized
1 8.1

The main house of a religious group where leaders live and run its work

is mainly a religious complex rather than primarily an administrative headquarters
6.4

A place where people live apart to focus on religion, like a monastery or convent

is a specific large complex often with church and formal leadership

Compounds

A large, famous church in London where kings and queens are crowned and important people are buried

abbey-lubber
  • Offensive
9.9

A lazy person who avoids work, often a monk living in an abbey

How Big

cathedral
6.6
abbey
81 6.5
priory
7 9.9
church
1.0
chapel
114 2.8
hermitage
10 9.9

Surface Forms

abbey singular
abbeys plural

Etymology

Abbey comes from the word abba, a word for 'father' that people used for church leaders and which became abbot. So an abbey is the house or group of buildings where the abbot ('father') and monks or nuns live, which is why it means a large religious building.