meeting house

Or meet·ing-house,

[mee-ting hous]

noun

1. a house or other building for communal gathering, especially a place of Protestant worship. Common in Colonial America for both public business and religious worship, a meeting house today is usually a place of worship for Quakers, Mennonites, Mormons, or certain other nonconformist denominations.

meeting house

noun

1. the place in which certain religious groups, esp Quakers, hold their meetings for worship

2. Also called: wharepuni. a large Māori tribal hall

Word History and Origins

Origin of meeting house¹

First recorded in 1625–35

Example Sentences

The chimney was located atop a former Boy Scouts meeting house currently used as public works department storage, according to Salcedo.

From Los Angeles Times

The arrest of six Youth Demand supporters at a Quaker meeting house has been condemned by the faith group as an "aggressive violation".

From BBC

In its new meeting house, which is roofed with branches and leaves in the traditional style, waits Tito López, the community's sayla – or leader.

From BBC

She said the Quaker religion remains prominent, with one of the oldest meeting houses in the USA "a lovely example of Welsh architecture of the early 18th Century".

From BBC

The downtown meeting house was built for the city by Faneuil in 1742 and was where Samuel Adams and other American colonists made some of the earliest speeches urging independence from Britain.

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• gathering place www.thesaurus.com