temple

English Online Dictionary. What means temple‎? What does temple mean?

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: tĕm'p(ə)l, IPA^(key): /ˈtɛmp(ə)l/
• Rhymes: -ɛmpəl

Etymology 1

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.

Noun

temple (plural temples)

2. A house of worship, especially:
   1. A house of worship dedicated to a polytheistic faith.
   2. (Judaism) Synonym of synagogue, especially a non-Orthodox synagogue.

      How often do you go to temple?

   3. (Mormonism) As opposed to an LDS meetinghouse, a church closed to non-Mormons and necessary for particular rituals.
3. A meeting house of the Oddfellows fraternity; its members.
4. (figurative) Any place regarded as holding a religious presence.
5. (figurative) Any place seen as an important centre for some activity.

6. (figurative) Anything regarded as important or minutely cared for.
7. (figurative) A gesture wherein the forefingers are outstretched and touch pad to pad while the other fingers are clasped together.

Usage notes

• This word is rarely used in English to refer to a Christian house of worship, especially in Western Christianity.

Synonyms

• (house of worship): house of worship, place of worship

Hyponyms

• (house of worship): church (Christian, usually distinguished); mosque (Muslim, usually distinguished); synagogue (Jewish); gurudwara, gurdwara (Sikh); athenaeum (dedicated to Athena), Mithraeum (dedicated to Mithras); Iseum, Iseion (dedicated to Isis); serapeum (dedicated to Serapis); hecatompedon (a temple of 100 feet length or square); hof (Germanic pagan); see also Thesaurus:temple

Coordinate terms

• (house of worship): shrine (smaller)
• (exclusive Mormon house of worship): meeting house, church (non-exclusive)

Derived terms

Related terms

• Templar

Translations

Verb

temple (third-person singular simple present temples, present participle templing, simple past and past participle templed)

1. (transitive) To build a temple for; to appropriate a temple to; to temple a god

Etymology 2

From Middle English temple, from Old French temple, from Vulgar Latin *temp(u)la, from Latin tempora (“the temples”), plural of tempus (“temple, head, face”). See temporal bone.

Noun

temple (plural temples)

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

Derived terms

Related terms

• temporal

Translations

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin templum (“a small timber, a purlin”); compare templet and template.

Noun

temple (plural temples)

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

Translations

Further reading

• “temple”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “temple”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• pelmet

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin templum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈtem.plə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈtem.ple]

Noun

temple m (plural temples)

1. temple (building)

Derived terms

• templer

Further reading

• “temple” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “temple”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “temple” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “temple” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French temple, borrowed from Latin templum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɑ̃pl/

Noun

temple m (plural temples)

1. temple (for worship)
2. hall

Derived terms

• temple de la renommée
• templier

Descendants

• → Romanian: templu

Further reading

• “temple”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Old French

Etymology 1

From Vulgar Latin *temp(u)la, from Latin tempora, plural of tempus.

Noun

temple oblique singular, m (oblique plural temples, nominative singular temples, nominative plural temple)

2. (anatomy) temple

Descendants

• French: tempe
• → Middle English: temple
  • English: temple

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin templum.

Noun

temple oblique singular, m (oblique plural temples, nominative singular temples, nominative plural temple)

1. temple (building where religious services take place)

Descendants

• French: temple
  • → Romanian: templu
• → Old Spanish: temple

Old Spanish

Etymology

From Old Occitan temple or Old French temple. Compare the inherited tiemplo and the learned form templo, all ultimately from Latin templum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtemple/

Noun

temple m (plural temples)

1. temple

Synonyms

• templo m, tiemplo m

Romanian

Noun

temple

1. plural of templu

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtemple/ [ˈt̪ẽm.ple]
• Rhymes: -emple
• Syllabification: tem‧ple

Etymology 1

Deverbal from templar.

Noun

temple m (plural temples)

1. mood; humour (of a person)
2. mettle; courage; spunk
3. tempering
4. temperature
5. (music) tuning
6. (bullfighting) a move of the cape before a charge

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Verb

temple

1. inflection of templar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “temple”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28