sacrarium

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UK/səˈkɹɛəɹi.əm/US/səˈkɹɛɹi.əm/

noun

In Ancient Rome, a place where sacred objects were kept, either in a temple (the adytum) or in a house (holding the penates)

Scrabble 13

Meanings

nounsacrarium (plural sacrariums or sacraria)

plural sacrariums · plural sacraria

  1. historicalIn Ancient Rome, a place where sacred objects were kept, either in a temple (the adytum) or in a house (holding the penates)
  2. The area surrounding the altar of a Christian church; the sanctuary or piscina. Sometimes specifically a drain directly to the earth, perhaps including reference to a basin, for washing vessels from consecration.

    2016, Martin Pousson, Black Sheep Boy, Los Angeles: Rare Bird Books, Part I, “Wanted Man,” The bathroom looked like a radiant sacristy, the sink a piscine, the drain a sacrarium.

    1 more example

    The hay-trusser deposited his basket by the font, went up the nave till he reached the altar-rails, and opening the gate entered the sacrarium, where he seemed to feel a sense of the strangeness for a moment; then he knelt upon the footpace.

    1886, Thomas Hardy, chapter 2, in The Mayor of Casterbridge
  3. anatomyThe complex sacrum of any bird.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Latinsacrārium
  2. Englishsacrarium

From Latin sacrārium.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian светая светих
  • светая светих (svetaja svetih)a place where sacred objects were kept
Finnish sacrarium
  • sacrariuma place where sacred objects were kept
Italian sacrario
  • sacrarioa place where sacred objects were kept
Latin sacrārium
  • sacrāriuma place where sacred objects were kept
Polish sakrarium
  • sakrariuma place where sacred objects were kept
Welsh cysegrfa
  • cysegrfaa place where sacred objects were kept

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with sacrarium

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

sacrarium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sacrarium

MLA

“sacrarium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sacrarium. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sacrarium,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sacrarium.

Source: sacrarium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.