: to seclude from the world in or as if in a cloister
a scientist who cloisters herself in a laboratory
policy makers are cloistered for the weekend, trying to stave off a default that they fear could trigger an international financial panic—Art Pine
2
: to surround with a cloister
cloistered gardens
Did you know?
Cloister first entered the English language as a noun in the 13th century; it referred then (as it still does) to a convent or monastery. More than three centuries later, English speakers began using the verbcloister to mean "to seclude in or as if in a cloister." Today, the noun can also refer to the monastic life or to a covered and usually arched passage along or around a court. You may also encounter cloistered with the meaning "surrounded with a covered passage," as in "cloistered gardens." Cloister ultimately derives from the Latin verb claudere, meaning "to close." Other words that can be traced back to the prolific claudere include close, conclude, exclude, include, preclude, seclude, and recluse.
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Noun
The event is taking place at a closed cloister adjacent to the Madonna dell'Orto church.
Gates, who was spotted at the Venice Marco Polo Airport earlier in the day, was dressed in a classic black suit with a white button-up shirt.—Ingrid Vasquez, People.com, 27 June 2025 According to People, the couple hosted a welcome party for their guests in a closed cloister adjacent to the Madonna dell'Orto church on Thursday night.—Christina Dugan Ramirez, FOXNews.com, 26 June 2025
Verb
At the same time, MSL is cloistered off from the rest of Meta in an office space near Zuckerberg himself, according to The New York Times.—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 18 July 2025 For starters, The Ann Savannah isn’t highway-adjacent; instead, it is cloistered in downtown Savannah, just around the corner from one of the city's must-visit restaurants, The Grey.—Cameron Sperance, Travel + Leisure, 12 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for cloister
Word History
Etymology
Noun and Verb
Middle English cloistre, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin claustrum, from Latin, bar, bolt, from claudere to close — more at close entry 1
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