asylum

The word “asylum” means protection given by a country to someone fleeing danger or persecution in their own country. In plain terms, safety and shelter given to someone fleeing danger — or, in older usage, an institution that housed the mentally ill.

“Asylum” is pronounced uh-SEYE-luhm (/əˈsaɪləm/ in IPA).

Here is “asylum” used in a sentence: “She applied for asylum after fleeing the civil war.”

Words with a similar meaning to “asylum” include sanctuary and shelter.

“Asylum” is a noun.

The word “asylum” comes from Ancient Greek. From Latin asylum, from Ancient Greek asylon ("sanctuary, refuge"), literally "not subject to seizure.".

“Asylum” is a fairly common word in modern English.

“Asylum” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: protection given by a country to someone fleeing danger or persecution in their own country.

An asylum seeker is someone who has asked a country for protection and is waiting for a decision on that claim. A refugee is someone whose need for protection has been formally recognised. In everyday terms, seeking asylum is the process, and refugee status is one possible outcome.

All three are standard. Seek asylum is the most general, claim asylum is especially common in British English, and apply for asylum emphasises the formal procedure. The country then grants or refuses asylum.

Both can mean a place of safety or refuge, but asylum has a specific legal sense: protection a country gives to people fleeing danger or persecution in their own country. Sanctuary leans towards physical places of shelter — historically churches, and today also wildlife reserves — while asylum dominates in immigration contexts.

The dated institutional sense grew out of the word's broader meaning of a place of safety or refuge: such institutions were conceived as places of shelter and care for people with mental illness. That use is now considered outdated, and modern usage prefers terms like psychiatric hospital.