List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 353

SYNONYMS: shelter, cover, retreat, refuge, asylum, sanctuary.
These nouns refer to places affording protection, as from danger, or to the state of being protected.

Shelter usually implies a covered or enclosed area that protects temporarily, as from injury or attack: A cold frame provides shelter for the seedlings.
Cover suggests something, as bushes, that conceals: The army mounted the invasion under cover of darkness.
Retreat applies chiefly to a secluded place to which one retires for meditation, peace, or privacy: Their cabin served as a retreat from the pressures of business.
Refuge suggests a place of escape from pursuit or from difficulties that beset one: The great advantage of a hotel is that it's a refuge from home life.
Asylum adds to refuge the idea of legal protection against a pursuer or of immunity from arrest: They wanted an asylum from the ravages of war.
Sanctuary denotes a sacred or inviolable place of refuge: Some of the political refugees found sanctuary in a monastery.