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Ashram first appeared in English in the early 1900s and gained traction after Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi founded his famous ashrams at Sabarmati near Ahmadabad and at Sevagram near Wardha. The word ashram derives from a Sanskrit word, "srama," which means "religious exertion." Later in the 20th century, English speakers broadened the term "ashram" to encompass any sort of religious retreat, regardless of denomination. In addition to practicing yoga and meditation, attendees may also receive instruction from a religious teacher and do some type of manual or mental work during their stay at the ashram.
Examples of ashram in a Sentence
Reggie Ugwu, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2025
About 90 minutes from Dallas, in a north Texas farming community home to more cows than people, sits an ashram where two Jain monks and documentary filmmakers, Sadhvi Siddhali Shree, 41, and Sadhvi Anubhuti, 42, are on a spiritual journey of a whole other kind.
—Kayla McCormick, NBC news, 23 Mar. 2025
An ashram where half of them lived sustained slight damage to one window.
—Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times, 19 Jan. 2025
And yet, even when the Beatles retreated to an ashram in the late ’60s seeking transcendence, most Americans still saw yoga as something for hippies and Eastern mystics.
—Danielle Friedman, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Ashram.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ashram. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.
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