Definition

1. Noun:

   • A place of worship or veneration: A shrine is a location considered sacred because of its association with a deity, saint, holy person, or a revered object. It is often a site for prayer, pilgrimage, or memorial.
   • A container for sacred relics: Historically, a shrine can also refer to a casket or an ornate box designed to hold holy relics.

2. Verb:

   • To enclose in or as if in a shrine: To preserve or honor something by placing it within a sacred or revered context.
   • To cherish as sacred: To hold something in very high, almost religious, esteem.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • Pilgrims travel from all over the world to visit the shrine.
  • The ancient shrine was built around a sacred spring.
  • The family kept a small shrine with photographs of their ancestors.

• Verb:

  • The original constitution is enshrined in a glass case at the museum.
  • The principles of freedom are enshrined in the nation's founding documents.

Advanced Usage

• "To be/serve as a shrine to someone/something": To function as a place dedicated to the memory or honor of a person or ideal.

  • The library serves as a shrine to the author's life and work.

• "To hold something/someone in shrine-like reverence": To treat with an exceptionally high degree of respect and veneration.

  • Fans hold the late musician's guitar in shrine-like reverence.

Variants and Related Words

• Enshrine (verb): To preserve or cherish as sacred. This is the most common verb form derived from "shrine."

  • The law enshrines the right to free speech.

• Shrinal (adjective): Pertaining to a shrine (rarely used in modern English).

Synonyms

• Noun: Sanctuary, sanctum, temple, reliquary, memorial.
• Verb: Consecrate, preserve, hallow, treasure, venerate.

Related Phrases

• National shrine: A shrine of particular importance to a nation.

  • The monument is considered a national shrine.

• Wayside shrine: A small shrine located by a roadside or path.

  • The travelers stopped to pray at the wayside shrine.

Idioms

• A shrine to consumerism: Used critically to describe a place devoted to shopping and material goods.

  • The new luxury mall has been called a shrine to consumerism.

• To make a shrine of something: To treat an ordinary object or place with excessive reverence.

  • After his first novel was published, he made a shrine of the old typewriter he used.

Noun

1. a place of worship hallowed by association with some sacred thing or person

Verb

1. enclose in a shrine
   • the saint's bones were enshrined in the cathedral