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

Palm Beach officials said in a press conference Monday that two shelters were opened to help evacuees of the nearby mobile home park. — Morgan Rynor, CBS News, 2 Nov. 2026

Many people shunned the shelters and stayed in their vehicles outside their homes or in parking lots. — Mari Yamaguchi, Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2026

But over the years, many shelters now do offer year-round adoption, realizing that not adopting black cats to good homes only further perpetuates the myth. — Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 30 Oct. 2026

Griffin said the shelters have very few medical staff on hand and the region does not have enough specialized obstetricians. — Mark Betancourt, NPR, 30 Oct. 2026

The unsheltered homeless population, which made up about 62% of overall homeless Californians in 2026, refers to people who sleep outside in tents, cars or other makeshift shelters. — Lia Russell, Sacbee.com, 28 Oct. 2026

According to Gatto, the right traditionally emphasizes tougher criminal penalties for aggressors, while the left places greater emphasis on protection and support for victims, including shelters and specialized services. — Alessandra Freitas, CNN Money, 25 Oct. 2026

In 2023, King was commissioned by Public Art Fund to produce a series of photographs that were displayed on bus shelters and newsstands across New York, Chicago, and Boston. — News Desk, Artforum, 23 Oct. 2026

Most schools have been destroyed, while the ones that remain standing have been turned into shelters for displaced people. — Literary Hub, 21 Oct. 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