harem
Use Harem in a sentence
əm, ˈhær- noun
1.
the part of a Muslim palace or house reserved for the residence of women.
2.
the women in a Muslim household, including the mother, sisters, wives, concubines, daughters, entertainers, and servants.
3.
Animal Behavior. a social group of females, as elephant seals, accompanied or followed by one fertile male who denies other males access to the group.
4.
Facetious or Offensive. a group of women associated in any way with one man or household: Father joked that he had a harem of five daughters.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To harem
00:10
Harem
is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
harem or hareem (ˈhɛərəm, hɑːˈriːm) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | the part of an Oriental house reserved strictly for wives, concubines, etc |
| 2. | a Muslim's wives and concubines collectively |
| 3. | a group of female animals of the same species that are the mates of a single male |
| [C17: from Arabic harīm forbidden (place)] | |
| hareem or hareem | |
| —n | |
| [C17: from Arabic harīm forbidden (place)] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
harem
1634, from Turk. harem, from Arabic haram "wives and concubines," originally "women's quarters," lit. "something forbidden or kept safe," from root of harama "he guarded, forbade."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
They're in a setting of an oriental harem, in a large oval room with divans and a lot of cushions around the walls.
His role is to protect his band from danger and increase his harem of mares and foals.
The fatter a sea lion is, the more sea lionesses he has in his harem.
Gorillas, which discourage dalliances between other males and the females of their harem, have small testes.
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