convent

[kon-vent, -vuhnt]

noun

1. a community of persons devoted to religious life under a superior.

   Synonyms: priory, abbey

2. a society or association of monks, friars, or nuns: now usually used of a society of nuns.

3. the building or buildings occupied by such a society; a monastery or nunnery.

   Synonyms: cloister

4. Obsolete.,  assembly; meeting.

convent

/ ˈkɒnvənt /

noun

1. a building inhabited by a religious community, usually of nuns

2. the religious community inhabiting such a building

3. Also called: convent school. a school in which the teachers are nuns

convent

1. A community of people in a religious order, especially nuns.

Word History and Origins

Origin of convent¹

1175–1225; < Medieval Latin conventus; Latin: assembly, coming together, equivalent to conven ( īre ) ( convene ) + -tus suffix of v. action; replacing Middle English covent < Anglo-French < Medieval Latin, as above

Word History and Origins

Origin of convent¹

C13: from Old French covent, from Latin conventus meeting, from convenīre to come together; see _convene

Example Sentences

Built in 1704, Woolton Hall previously served as a hotel, an army hospital, a convent and a school but had fallen into disrepair in recent years.

From BBC

But her father, a government employee, wanted more for her and at the age of eight, enrolled her in a convent school where the medium of instruction was the state's official language - Kannada.

From BBC

It used to be that academia was the equivalent of a convent, where the nuns and monks went to do their thinking, and even that doesn’t exist anymore.

From Los Angeles Times

His fiancée did not learn of it for some time, and she eventually took the veil, becoming a Dominican nun at a convent in Monterey — California’s first native-born Catholic sister.

From Los Angeles Times

He’s even better as Irish coal-seller Bill Furlong, another man forced to fight his conscience when he discovers that his local convent doubles as a labor camp for unwed moms.

From Los Angeles Times