What does tabernacle mean?
A tabernacle is originally a tent or portable shelter, and the word is most famously associated with the sacred tent that the Israelites used during their journey through the wilderness. In the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle housed the ark of the covenant and served as the central place of worship. In later and figurative use, a tabernacle can mean a sanctuary, temple, chapel, or any place that provides shelter for a community or a gathering. The term often carries associations of simplicity, separation from ordinary life, and religious solemnity. Although it can refer broadly to a tent in older usage, modern speakers usually encounter it in formal, historical, or religious contexts.
A portable tent or shelter, especially the sacred sanctuary used by the Israelites in the wilderness. By extension, a place of worship or religious sanctuary.
"The Tabernacle of the Lord stood in the center of the Israelite camp."
The religious and historical sense is the most distinctive modern usage.
To place or keep something in a tabernacle or sanctuary.
"The object was tabernacled in the holy place according to the ritual."
This is a formal and relatively uncommon verb.
The regular plural is used for individual tents, sanctuaries, or places of worship.
"Several tabernacles were erected around the edges of the settlement."
The biblical Tabernacle was a portable sanctuary whose curtains and coverings had to be carried as the Israelites moved through the wilderness.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does tabernacle come from?
The word comes through Old French from Latin tabernaculum, a diminutive of taberna, meaning a hut or shop. Latin taberna is also the source of tavern, so the two English words are cognates. In English, tabernacle originally referred to a tent or pavilion and acquired its prominent biblical sense through its use in the Hebrew Bible.
Related word forms
How tabernacle is actually used
The word is formal and literary when used figuratively for a place of worship or a community's gathering place. Its most familiar historical and religious sense refers to the portable sanctuary in the Hebrew Bible; in modern usage, it can suggest an austere, secluded, or especially sacred place.