temple — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A house of worship, especially: A house of worship dedicated to a polytheistic faith.

   Examples

   The temple of Zeus was very large.

   More examples (1)

   As of October 1968 Lukang, which had a resident population of between 27,000 and 28,000 people, had 39 temples. It is my impression that Lukang has more temples than do most Taiwanese communities of equivalent size. By temple I mean a structure that houses an image, altar, and incense pot, and is freely accessible to the general public. In speaking of the 39 temples of Lukang, I am omitting the numerous small shrines to the unknown dead (Yu Ying Kung), buildings dedicated to ancestors rather than deities (two), Christian churches (four), incense-burner associations that keep their incense pot or image in private homes, and private shrines such as the domestic altars of tang-ki (spirit mediums) or the shrine of the now defunct Ch'üan-chou guild, found in the back room of a drugstore endowed with the guild property.[...]Lukang, seen in comparative perspective, has a lot of temples.

2. A house of worship, especially: Synonym of synagogue, especially a non-Orthodox synagogue.

   Usage

   • Judaism

   Examples

   How often do you go to temple?

3. A house of worship, especially: As opposed to an LDS meetinghouse, a church closed to non-Mormons and necessary for particular rituals.

   Usage

   • Mormonism

4. A meeting house of the Oddfellows fraternity; its members.

5. Any place regarded as holding a religious presence.

   Usage

   • Figurative

6. Any place seen as an important centre for some activity.

   Usage

   • Figurative

   Examples

   a temple of commerce; a temple of drinking and dining

7. Anything regarded as important or minutely cared for.

   Usage

   • Figurative

   Examples

   My body is my temple.

   For nature crescent does not grow alone In thews and bulks, but as this temple waxes, The inward service of the mind and soul Grows wide withal.

8. A gesture wherein the forefingers are outstretched and touch pad to pad while the other fingers are clasped together.

   Usage

   • Figurative

   Examples

   Again Abdullah listened intently, his eyes closed, his ten fingers forming a temple of his hands in front of him.

Verb

1. To build a temple for; to appropriate a temple to; to temple a god

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   though the Heathen (in many places) Templed and adored this drunken God

Noun

1. The slightly flatter region, on either side of the head of a vertebrate, including a human, behind the eye and forehead, above the zygomatic arch, and forward of the ear.

   Examples

   More examples (3)

   Then Iael Hebers wife, tooke a naile of the tent, and tooke an hammer in her hand, and went softly vnto him, and smote the naile into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: (for he was fast asleepe, and weary;) so he died.

   Biblical criteria of sexual seductiveness include a white skin, black hair, or henna-dyed, scarlet lips, a prominent nose, rosy temples, long straight neck, firm breasts, round thighs, an erect posture.

   A few days after the electrodes were implanted, Bennett welcomed visitors into his hospital room. His head is wrapped in bandages. A thick braid of wires hangs from his left temple.

2. Either of the sidepieces on a set of spectacles, extending backwards from the hinge toward the ears and, usually, turning down around them.

Noun

1. A contrivance used in a loom for keeping the web stretched transversely.

   Synonyms

   template

Noun

1. place of worship consisting of an edifice for the worship of a deity

   Broader terms

   place of worshiphouse of prayerhouse of Godhouse of worship

2. the flat area on either side of the forehead

   Broader terms

   featurelineament

   Examples

   the veins in his temple throbbed

3. an edifice devoted to special or exalted purposes

   Broader terms

   buildingedifice

4. (Judaism) the place of worship for a Jewish congregation

   Synonyms

   synagoguetabernacle

   Broader terms

   place of worshiphouse of prayerhouse of Godhouse of worship