VocabauraVOCABAURA

temple

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A house of worship.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

tehmpuhl

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtɛmpəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A house of worship, especially

  2. A house of worship dedicated to a polytheistic faith.

  3. figurative

    Any place regarded as holding a religious presence.

  4. figurative

    Any place seen as an important centre for some activity.

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

  6. figurative

    Anything regarded as important or minutely cared for.

verb

  1. transitive

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

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A house of worship, especially

Used this way, temple is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a religious use: it carries the weight of tradition and ceremony.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Religion/spirituality
  • Historical writing

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use temple

  • “The veins in his temple throbbed.”noun

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “temple”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Either

middle templeinner temple

Other combinations

second templegreat templetemple mountnew templetemple barholy temple

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • temple of jerusalemnounCompound term

    Any of three successive temples in Jerusalem that served as the primary center for Jewish worship.

  • temple of solomonnounCompound term

    Any of three successive temples in Jerusalem that served as the primary center for Jewish worship.

  • temple orangenounCompound term

    Large citrus tree having large sweet deep orange fruit that is easily peeled.

  • temple orange treenounCompound term

    Large citrus tree having large sweet deep orange fruit that is easily peeled.

  • temple treenounCompound term

    Frangipani of India having an erect habit and conical form.

  • temple of apollonounCompound term

    The oracle at Delphi where a priestess supposedly delivered messages from Apollo to those who sought advice.

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “temple” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.