sanctuary

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A place of safety, refuge, or protection.

   “My car is a sanctuary, where none can disturb me except for people who cut me off.”

   “She saw him, even as she had last gazed upon him, pale, cold, and awful; but still he was there. The coffin was to her like a shrine; all that she held most dear and most precious was within its dark and silent sanctuary.”

   “‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War.[…]’”

   “In January, federal agents indicted 16 sanctuary leaders from Texas and Arizona on charges of helping to harbor illegal immigrants from Central America.”

2. (countable, uncountable)An area set aside for protection.

   “The bird sanctuary has strict restrictions on visitors so the birds aren't disturbed.”

3. (countable, uncountable)A state of being protected, asylum.

   “The government granted sanctuary to the defector, protecting him from his former government.”

4. (countable, uncountable)The consecrated (or sacred) area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.

   “Near-synonym: chancel (broadly synonymous)”