shelter-in-place

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

see also shelter in place at shelter entry 2

Examples of shelter-in-place in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Bay Area was the first metropolis to issue shelter-in-place orders, starting a remote work exodus as coders and corporate chiefs left San Francisco’s downtown core. —Bloomberg, Mercury News, 17 Apr. 2025

The shelter-in-place was lifted a short time later, NBC 10 reported. —Landon Mion, FOXNews.com, 7 Apr. 2025

The Navy said other sites on the base were not under threat and not put under a shelter-in-place order. —Ross Rosenfeld, Newsweek, 26 Feb. 2025

The agency, for instance, paid out nearly $25 billion in 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic prompted shelter-in-place orders worldwide. —Cathie Anderson, Sacbee.com, 28 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1977, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for shelter-in-place

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