Synonyms of shelters

shelters 1 of 2

noun

plural of shelter

as in refuges

something (as a building) that offers cover from the weather or protection from danger

the sudden fierce storm forced us to run to the nearest shelter

Synonyms & Similar Words

• refuges
• sanctuaries
• retreats
• havens
• residences
• asylums
• lodgings
• bolt-holes
• harbors
• harborages
• oases
• sanctums
• hideouts
• abodes
• dwellings
• roofs
• ports
• anchorages
• houses
• housings
• screens
• quarters
• habitations
• domiciles
• moorings
• fortresses
• hideaways
• forts
• strongholds
• dens
• places
• cloisters
• rests
• sheds
• closets
• windbreaks
• castles
• lairs
• hermitages
• pads
• diggings
• redoubts
• palisades
• covers
• coverts
• lean-tos
• lodgments
• lees

shelters

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of shelter

1

as in protects

to be or provide a shelter for

the abandoned barn shelters a colony of stray cats

Synonyms & Similar Words

• protects
• houses
• refuges
• harbors
• shields
• defends
• safeguards
• secures
• quarters
• wards
• shadows
• screens
• covers
• places
• domiciles
• shades

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• exposes

2

as in houses

to provide with living quarters or shelter

sheltered the troops in tents until permanent barracks could be built

Synonyms & Similar Words

• houses
• camps
• roofs
• lodges
• rooms
• accommodates
• boards
• chambers
• quarters
• homes
• domiciles
• harbors
• bunks
• bivouacs
• billets
• encamps
• bestows
• takes in
• sheds
• stables
• tents
• barracks
• roosts
• beds (down)
• secures
• puts up
• ensconces

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• ejects
• evicts

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of shelters

Noun

These hotels were used as emergency shelters during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the city later purchased the Sleep Inn to serve as a family shelter and the Holiday Inn to serve single men. — Renee Anderson, CBS News, 12 Aug. 2026

About 1,800 children were living in shelters and roughly 22,000 facing deportation were living with outside sponsors such as family members, according to the legal service providers whose contract expired. — ABC News, 12 Aug. 2026

Festival curator Will Braden has been handpicking these videos since 2016, and some proceeds from the ticket sales all go to local animal shelters. — Brian Welk, IndieWire, 12 Aug. 2026

Behind thick walls, a wine cellar shelters bottles against the heat. — Natalie Hoberman, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026

Los Angeles animal shelters recorded a sharp increase in euthanizations of cats and kittens through the first six months of the year, which officials attribute in part to a rise in animals brought to the shelters. — Hailey Wang, Los Angeles Times, 11 Aug. 2026

After the Cold War, Switzerland continued to build bomb shelters, ensuring that each of its 9 million citizens has access to one. — Brittney Melton, NPR, 10 Aug. 2026

When temperatures soar, friends and neighbors share heat warnings, check on older adults or other community members who may need help, and coordinate community cooling shelters when formal systems are overwhelmed. — Fiona Doherty, The Conversation, 5 Aug. 2026

Authorities decide whether to set up temporary shelters based on community needs, according to Holford. — Hali Smith august 5, Idaho Statesman, 5 Aug. 2026

Verb

Made up of vast mangrove forests, brackish marshlands, and tons of tiny islands, the refuge shelters a wide variety of animals, including American alligators and crocodiles, Florida panthers, manatees, river otters, bottle-nosed dolphins, and more than 200 species of migratory birds. — Elizabeth Rhodes, Travel + Leisure, 23 June 2026

The film centers on Cheng Jun, a Chinese international student working the night shift at a 24-hour convenience store who forms an unlikely bond with a homeless elderly woman who shelters there each night. — Jenny S. Li, Variety, 15 June 2026

Rain pushes the weeds higher, then shelters them on turf too soft for the machines meant to clip them. — CBS News, 1 May 2026

Remove firewood, bricks, boards, tarps, or vegetation up against the house, which shelters insects that provide food for spiders, says Gray. — Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 2 Apr. 2026

Though Brigitta despises him, Maria shelters him. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Apr. 2026

The roof of his celebrated Restaurant Mestizo, also in the capital city, is supported by huge load-bearing stones from a local quarry; his Pite House, a residence in nearby Papudo, sits nestled on a cliffside that shelters it from prevailing winds. — Oscar Holland, CNN Money, 12 Mar. 2026

This slime shelters symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria. — Andrew Coletti, Popular Science, 14 Jan. 2026

The organization shelters about 70 dogs and 50 cats, many injured or left without owners by the war. — Tavleen Tarrant, NBC news, 28 Dec. 2025