Meaning & use
shelter
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A covered place that protects people or animals from weather or danger.
Grammar: Countable for a structure: a bus shelter.
Patterns
- a shelter from something
- a shelter for someone
We waited in a bus shelter until the rain stopped.
The hikers built a shelter of branches.
A concrete shelter protected the villagers from the storm.
noununcountable
Protection from rain, wind, danger or harm.
Grammar: Uncountable: take shelter, find shelter.
Patterns
- take shelter from something
- seek shelter in something
We took shelter under a tree during the storm.
The refugees sought shelter in the church.
Dogs need shelter from the winter cold.
nouncountable
A place that houses people or animals who have nowhere else to go.
Grammar: Often a compound: homeless shelter, animal shelter.
Patterns
- a shelter for someone
She volunteers at an animal shelter on weekends.
The city opened a shelter for homeless families.
He adopted his cat from a local shelter.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To protect someone or something from harm or bad weather.
Grammar: Transitive: shelter a child; intransitive: shelter from the rain.
Patterns
- shelter from something
- shelter someone from something
We sheltered in a doorway until the hail passed.
The town sheltered hundreds of evacuees.
Tall hedges shelter the garden from the wind.
Word forms
| plural | shelters |
|---|---|
| third person singular | shelters |
| past tense | sheltered |
| -ing form | sheltering |
Common combinations
- take shelter
- Take shelter indoors when thunder starts.
- seek shelter
- Birds seek shelter in the trees.
- emergency shelter
- The school served as an emergency shelter.
- animal shelter
- The animal shelter needs volunteers.
- bus shelter
- Someone left an umbrella in the bus shelter.
- shelter from the storm
- We found shelter from the storm in a barn.
Synonyms and how they differ
- refuge
- Refuge stresses safety from danger or pursuit, while shelter often concerns weather and basic cover.
- haven
- Haven is more figurative and suggests a peaceful, safe place.
- cover
- Cover is a shorter, more casual word for protection, as in take cover.
- sanctuary
- Sanctuary implies a protected, often sacred place of safety.
Opposites
Word family
- sheltered adjective
- protected from weather or from hardship
- shelterless adjective
- having no cover or home
- unsheltered adjective
- not protected from the weather
- sheltering noun
- the act of giving protection
Commonly confused: shelter or shelf?
shelter vs shelf
A shelf is a flat board for holding things, and is not a place of protection.
Practice
When the hail began, we ran into the barn to take ___ .
Choose one answer.
Take shelter is the set phrase for seeking cover. Shield is a different noun and does not fit this phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “shelter”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.