convent

1 of 2

noun

con·​vent ˈkän-vənt 

-ˌvent

: a local community or house of a religious order or congregation

especially : an establishment of nuns

convent

2 of 2

verb

con·​vent kən-ˈvent 

convented; conventing; convents

obsolete

: convene

Examples of convent in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The school was built in what was once the convent's basement, which has been approved by the Israeli military as a suitable shelter. —ABC News, 29 Mar. 2026

Jamie helps Joanie join a convent and cuts ties with Laoghaire for good. —Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 26 Mar. 2026

Arcangela Tarabotti, a seventeenth-century Venetian nun who was put into a convent against her will, wrote a critique of coerced enclosure that begins by eviscerating the idea that men are by nature superior to women. —Chandler Fritz, The New York Review of Books, 21 Mar. 2026

The world was first introduced to Saoirse-Monica Jackson as the awkward and expressive schoolgirl Erin Quinn in Derry Girls, navigating Troubles-era Northern Ireland and its conflict with the same fervor as her crushes, convent school, and cringe-inducing teenage chaos. —Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 21 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English covent, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin conventus, from Latin, assembly, from convenire

Verb

Latin conventus, past participle of convenire

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1514, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

convent

noun

con·​vent

ˈkän-vənt, 

-ˌvent

1

: a community of nuns living together

2

: a house or set of buildings occupied by nuns