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meetinghouse

meetinghouse

1 8.4
A simple building where people meet for religious services, often used by Quakers
  • noun
  • /ˈmiːtɪŋhaʊs/
translation icon : casa de reuniones
  • The community gathers every Sunday at the Quaker meetinghouse for spiritual reflection and worship.

Examples

  • By the eve of the American Revolution, their numbers had grown to eighty distinct family groups, and they had built a separate meetinghouse just five hundred feet away from Gay's church on the town green.

    Academic text (2005)
  • I never told him that the "nice" synagogue had once been a Quaker meetinghouse.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Not only was this building used for school, but it was also a public meetinghouse for those early settlers.

    Blog text (6)
  • On Sunday, December 12, he rode an additional four miles to a log meetinghouse, where there was a small Methodist society.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Those beams were taken out... of this old Quaker meetinghouse out in rural Pennsylvania.

  • In December of 1815, the town meeting decided to replace the aging meetinghouse, it having fallen into disrepair.

    Academic text (1993)
  • A contractor in Kinshasa who builds meetinghouses for the Church frequently offers employment to graduates of this course.

    Blog text (24)
  • In his diary, Williams noted that the sermon elicited a "great moaning and crying out" in the meetinghouse.

    Academic text (2005)
  • Edwards preached in the Suffield meetinghouse again the following morning, then retired to a nearby residence where he continued exhorting the assembly.

    Academic text (2005)
  • Traveling preachers such as Jonathan Parsons of Lyme delivered powerful weekday lectures to packed meetinghouses.

    Academic text (2005)

Synonyms

church
vsmeetinghouse
1.0

A building where Christians meet to pray and worship

focuses on Nonconformist gatherings rather than general public Christian worship
place of worship
vsmeetinghouse
14 2.9

A place where people meet to pray or have religious services

refers specifically to Nonconformist assembly buildings rather than any location
house of worship
vsmeetinghouse
11 2.9

A building where people gather for prayer or religious services

is specific to Nonconformist assemblies rather than any religion's services
house of God
vsmeetinghouse
9 3.1

A building where people gather to pray, like a church

highlights Nonconformist assemblies rather than worship places in general
church building
vsmeetinghouse
4 1.0

A building where Christians meet to worship

emphasizes Nonconformist assemblies rather than formal congregational worship
house of prayer
vsmeetinghouse
1 3.8

A building where people meet to pray together

focuses on Nonconformist group meetings rather than general congregational prayer
conventicle
vsmeetinghouse
  • Archaic
9.9

A small building where people gather to worship, often used by Quakers

is an alternate term for the same Nonconformist worship building
jama
vsmeetinghouse
  • Indian
9.9

A building where people meet for prayer or community events

is specific to religious assemblies by Nonconformists rather than any meeting place
chapterhouse
vsmeetinghouse
9.9

A building next to a cathedral or monastery where church leaders meet

is for free-standing Nonconformist assemblies, not attached to monastic structures

How Formal

cathedral
6.6
church
1.0
meetinghouse
1 8.4
chapel
114 2.8

Surface Forms

meetinghouse singular
meetinghouses plural

Morphology

meetinghouse = meeting + house (transparent) = meeting + house

The compound's meaning is a literal building used for meetings, directly derivable from 'meeting' + 'house'.

Etymology

Meetinghouse is a simple compound of meeting ('a gathering') and house ('a building'), and it was used for the plain places where groups such as Quakers met for worship. So it now means a building where people meet for religious services.