shelter in place

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phrase

: to remain inside in one's current location until a danger has passed : to temporarily take shelter in a protected space

The … campus was placed under lockdown in response to the shooting. People on campus were advised to shelter in place. No students were hurt or endangered, the school said.

—Julia Jacobo

These communities—including our own—need to start hardening themselves against future fires. That means preparing homes for fires the way we already do for earthquakes and floods. It also means developing better alert systems, heeding evacuation warnings when they come and being prepared to shelter in place when escape routes are cut off …

—The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California)

shelter-in-place

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adjective

variants or less commonly shelter in place

: instructing or requiring people to remain in their current location until a danger has passed

The governor has issued a shelter-in-place order.

: of or relating to sheltering in place

shelter-in-place drills

Examples of shelter in place in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Although the suspect remains at large, a shelter-in-place order has not been reestablished. —Eric Levenson, CNN Money, 16 Dec. 2025

Shortly before noon, firefighters said the fire was under control and the shelter-in-place was lifted. —Tim Fang, CBS News, 15 Dec. 2025

Within a few hours, Brown University lifted its campus-wide shelter-in-place order. —Christopher Cann, USA Today, 15 Dec. 2025

The search for the shooter paralyzed the campus, the nearby neighborhoods filled with stately brick homes and the downtown in Rhode Island’s capital city until a shelter-in-place order was lifted early Sunday. —Kimberlee Kruesi, Fortune, 14 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1977, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for shelter in place

• aromatase
• hydrogenase
• nitrogenase
• oligoclase
• oxygenase
• plagioclase
• polymerase
• streptokinase
• triphosphatase
• abase
• airspace
• apace