: the part of a Hindu or Muslim dwelling (as in India) that is reserved for the women of the household
… she had one distinct advantage where she could trump her male rivals: her access to Indian zenanas. No Englishman could go into the quarters of Indian women, and Fanny [Parkes] was determined to make the most of the opportunity and to report from beyond a frontier that her rivals could not cross.—
William Dalrymple
William DalrympleExamples of zenana in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The latter were sequestered from view and segregated in living quarters known as the zenana.
—Sharmila Mukherjee, The Seattle Times, 2 Jan. 2019
This made the zenana, or women’s quarters, an influential center of tastemakers and consumers.
—Lee Lawrence, WSJ, 10 Mar. 2018
Sharmila Mukherjee, The Seattle Times, 2 Jan. 2019
This made the zenana, or women’s quarters, an influential center of tastemakers and consumers.
—Lee Lawrence, WSJ, 10 Mar. 2018
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'zenana.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Zenana.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zenana. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.
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