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temple

Pronunciation: /ˈtɛm.pl̩/

The English word “temple” has 12 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A house of worship dedicated to a polytheistic faith.
  2. Synonym of synagogue, especially a non-Orthodox synagogue.
  3. As opposed to an LDS meetinghouse, a church closed to non-Mormons and necessary for particular rituals.
  4. A meeting house of the Oddfellows fraternity; its members.
  5. Any place regarded as holding a religious presence.
  6. Any place seen as an important centre for some activity.
  7. Anything regarded as important or minutely cared for.
  8. A gesture wherein the forefingers are outstretched and touch pad to pad while the other fingers are clasped together.
  9. 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.
  10. Either of the sidepieces on a set of spectacles, extending backwards from the hinge toward the ears and, usually, turning down around them.
  11. A contrivance used in a loom for keeping the web stretched transversely.

verb

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

Etymology

From Middle English temple, from Old English templ, tempel, borrowed from Latin templum (“shrine, temple, area for auspices”). Compare Old High German tempal (“temple”), also a borrowing from the Latin. Displaced native Old English ealh.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.