asylum

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word asylum. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word asylum, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say asylum in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word asylum you have here. The definition of the word asylum will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofasylum, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Etymology

From Latin asylum, from Ancient Greek ἄσυλον (ásulon).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /əˈsaɪləm/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

asylum (plural asylums or asyla)

  1. A place of safety or refuge.
    • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXVIII, in Francesca Carrara. , volume II, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 295:
      All the busy concerns of daily existence were utterly abhorrent to me. I loathed the sound of others' voices—I hated to be mixed up with their petty routine of ordinary cares; here was an asylum offered to me—here I might lay down all the offices of humanity, and dwell beside that grave whose rest was now my only desire.
  2. The protection, physical and legal, afforded by such a place (as, for example, for political refugees).
  3. (dated) A place of protection or restraint for one or more classes of the disadvantaged, especially the mentally ill.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

right of asylum — see right of asylum

See also

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἄσυλον (ásulon).

Pronunciation

Noun

asȳlum n (genitive asȳlī); second declension

  1. asylum (place of refuge), sanctuary
    Synonyms: perfugium, latebra, receptāculum, tēctum, refugium, dēverticulum

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative asȳlum asȳla
Genitive asȳlī asȳlōrum
Dative asȳlō asȳlīs
Accusative asȳlum asȳla
Ablative asȳlō asȳlīs
Vocative asȳlum asȳla

Descendants

  • Catalan: asil
  • → English: asylum
  • French: asile
  • Galician: asilo
  • → German: Asyl
  • Italian: asilo
  • Occitan: asil
  • Portuguese: asilo
  • Romanian: azil
  • Spanish: asilo

References

  • “asylum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “asylum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • asylum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • “asylum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “asylum”, in Samuel Ball Platner (1929) Thomas Ashby, editor, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press
  • “asylum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia