Phrase guide

place of worship

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A place, usually a building such as a church, mosque, synagogue or temple where believers can practise their faith.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: house of worship, fane, temple, shrine

Antonyms: none provided

Narrower terms: church, cathedral, chapel, mosque, synagogue, temple, fane, house of worship, shrine

2

noun

Meaning 2

any building where congregations gather for prayer

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: house of prayer, house of God, house of worship

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: building, edifice

Narrower terms: bethel, chapel, church, church building, conventicle, meetinghouse, masjid, musjid, mosque, shrine, synagogue, temple, tabernacle

History

Etymology

From Middle English place of worship, place of wurschip.

Across languages

Translations

43 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: aanbiddingsplek — place where people can practise their faith
  • Arabic: مَعْبَد (maʕbad) — place where people can practise their faith
  • Aramaic: 𐡌𐡎𐡂𐡃𐡀 (msgdʾ) — place where people can practise their faith
  • Bulgarian: молитвен дом (molitven dom) — place where people can practise their faith
  • Catalan: lloc de culte — place where people can practise their faith
  • Chinese Mandarin: 宗教場所 /宗教场所 (zōngjiào chǎngsuǒ) — place where people can practise their faith
  • Danish: gudshus — place where people can practise their faith
  • Dutch: gebedshuis — place where people can practise their faith
  • Dutch: godshuis — place where people can practise their faith
  • Dutch: bedehuis — place where people can practise their faith
  • Dutch: cultusplaats — place where people can practise their faith
  • Esperanto: preĝejo — place where people can practise their faith
  • Esperanto: adorejo — place where people can practise their faith
  • Finnish: palvontapaikka — place where people can practise their faith
  • French: lieu de culte — place where people can practise their faith
  • Hebrew: מקום פולחן / מְקוֹם פֻּלְחָן — place where people can practise their faith
  • Indonesian: tempat ibadah — place where people can practise their faith
  • Indonesian: rumah ibadah — place where people can practise their faith
  • Irish: ionad adhartha — place where people can practise their faith
  • Italian: luogo di culto — place where people can practise their faith
  • Kapampangan: sambahan — place where people can practise their faith
  • Malay: tempat ibadah — place where people can practise their faith
  • Norwegian Bokmål: gudshus — place where people can practise their faith
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: gudshus — place where people can practise their faith
  • Persian: نیایشگاه (niyâyešgâh) — place where people can practise their faith
  • Persian: معبد (ma'bad) — place where people can practise their faith
  • Polish: miejsce modlitwy — place where people can practise their faith
  • Polish: świątynia — place where people can practise their faith
  • Romanian: lăcaș de cult — place where people can practise their faith
  • Russian: ку́льтовое сооруже́ние (kúlʹtovoje sooružénije) — place where people can practise their faith
  • Spanish: lugar de culto — place where people can practise their faith
  • Swahili: maabadi — place where people can practise their faith
  • Tagalog: pook-sambahan — place where people can practise their faith
  • Thai: ศาสนสถาน (sǎa-sà-ná-sà-tǎan) — place where people can practise their faith
  • Turkish: ibadethane — place where people can practise their faith
  • Turkish: tapınak — place where people can practise their faith
  • Turkish: mabet — place where people can practise their faith
  • Ottoman Turkish: عبادتخانه (ʼibâdethâne) — place where people can practise their faith
  • Urdu: عبادت گاہ (ibādat-gāh) — place where people can practise their faith
  • Urdu: معبد (ma'bad) — place where people can practise their faith
  • Urdu: عبادت خانہ (ibādat-xāna) — place where people can practise their faith
  • Urdu: عبادت کدہ (ibādat-kada) — place where people can practise their faith
  • Welsh: teml — place where people can practise their faith