shelter

1 of 2

noun

shel·​ter ˈshel-tər How to pronounce shelter (audio)
1
a
: something that covers or affords protection
a bomb shelter
b
: an establishment providing food and shelter (as to the homeless)
c
: an establishment that houses and feeds stray or unwanted animals
2
: a position or the state of being covered and protected
took shelter
shelterless adjective

shelter

2 of 2

verb

sheltered; sheltering ˈshel-t(ə-)riŋ How to pronounce shelter (audio)

transitive verb

1
: to constitute or provide a shelter for : protect
has led a sheltered life
2
: to place under shelter or protection
sheltered himself in a mountain cave
3
: to protect (income) from taxation

intransitive verb

: to take shelter
shelterer noun
Phrases
shelter in place
: to remain inside in one's current location until a danger has passed : to temporarily take shelter in a protected space
The … campus was placed under lockdown in response to the shooting. People on campus were advised to shelter in place. No students were hurt or endangered, the school said.Julia Jacobo
These communities—including our own—need to start hardening themselves against future fires. That means preparing homes for fires the way we already do for earthquakes and floods. It also means developing better alert systems, heeding evacuation warnings when they come and being prepared to shelter in place when escape routes are cut off …The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California)

Examples of shelter in a Sentence

Noun We made a shelter from branches. a shelter for battered women The organization provides food and shelter for homeless people. The crowd ran for shelter when the rain started. They sought shelter from the storm. Verb A cave sheltered the climbers during the storm. They sheltered in a cave while they waited for the storm to pass.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Those gauges are still reacting to high shelter costs and a sharp climb in gas prices, which together contributed to 60% of the monthly jump in prices in February, according to the latest Consumer Price Index. Bryan Mena, CNN, 17 Mar. 2024 Volunteers rebuilt a shelter off I-8 a day after it was demolished. Alex Riggins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Mar. 2024 Pictures of a mother clutching her baby, a young family cowering in a bomb shelter, and heroic Russian soldiers recall images of World War II, which Russian propagandists routinely use to legitimize the current conflict. Francesca Ebel, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024 The Red Cross has set up an emergency shelter at Winchester High School, at 700 N Union St., in Randolph County. John Tufts, The Indianapolis Star, 15 Mar. 2024 In a congregate setting, like a shelter, this can mean quick spread. Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 14 Mar. 2024 Most new cases in the past week have been in Illinois, where Chicago health authorities have been responding to an outbreak in a migrant shelter. Alexander Tin, CBS News, 13 Mar. 2024 By incorporating choice native shrubs and evergreen grass-like plants, Zoomers are providing winter shelter for wildlife as well as insuring the spring and summer offerings of pollen and nectar. Kristin Guy, Sunset Magazine, 13 Mar. 2024 As of the week of Nov. 27, there were over 2,400 people on the city’s shelter wait list. Theresa Clift, Sacramento Bee, 6 Mar. 2024
Verb
Two people in Denver were found dead Saturday night at a former hotel that the city is using to shelter homeless people, authorities said. Stephen Sorace, Fox News, 18 Mar. 2024 Biden himself seems to be growing more disturbed by the crisis—in particular, by Israel’s threat of an imminent invasion of Rafah, the city in southern Gaza where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering. Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 17 Mar. 2024 Haitham, 17, left the U.N. school in Rafah where the family was sheltering on Feb. 11 to sell cigarettes at a market, his father Mohammed said. Miriam Berger, Washington Post, 16 Mar. 2024 Help Your Teen Balance Screen Time With In-Person Activities Rather than sheltering kids from social media and screens altogether, parents should teach their teens healthier ways to use these tools and how to maintain a good balance, suggests Patel. Parents, 12 Mar. 2024 On the ground, and the food parcels landed on the southern earned of the besieged Palestinian territory, where around 1.5 million people are sheltering. CBS News, 3 Mar. 2024 The number of people sheltering in Rafah, the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, has ballooned from less than 300,000 to more than 1.4 million. Sarah Ferguson, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024 The clinic now only serves animals that are being sheltered at the site, but Hansen said the Humane Society plans to open it as an after-hours urgent care community clinic in 2025. Corina Vanek, The Arizona Republic, 6 Mar. 2024 Rafah is a nearly twenty-five-square-mile area, in which refugees from Gaza City and Khan Younis are now sheltering. Bernard Avishai, The New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shelter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

origin unknown

First Known Use

Noun

1585, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1590, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of shelter was in 1585

Dictionary Entries Near shelter

Cite this Entry

“Shelter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shelter. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

shelter

1 of 2 noun
shel·​ter ˈshel-tər How to pronounce shelter (audio)
1
a
: something that covers or protects
an air raid shelter
a fallout shelter
b
: a place that provides food and lodging (as to the homeless)
c
: a place that houses and feeds stray or unwanted animals
2
: the state of being protected
take shelter from a storm

shelter

2 of 2 verb
sheltered; sheltering -t(ə-)riŋ How to pronounce shelter (audio)
1
: to be a shelter for : provide with shelter
2
: to find and use a shelter

More from Merriam-Webster on shelter

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