Abbey vs. Monastery

Abbeynoun

The office or dominion of an abbot or abbess.

Abbeynoun

A monastery or society of people, secluded from the world and devoted to religion and celibacy, which is headed by an abbot or abbess; also, the monastic building or buildings.

Abbeynoun

The church of a monastery.

Abbeynoun

(British English) A residence that was previously an abbatial building.

Abbeynoun

A monastery or society of persons of either sex, secluded from the world and devoted to religion and celibacy; also, the monastic building or buildings.

Abbeynoun

The church of a monastery.

Abbeynoun

a church associated with a monastery or convent

Abbeynoun

a convent ruled by an abbess

Abbeynoun

a monastery ruled by an abbot

Abbey

An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.

Monasterynoun

building for housing monks or others who have taken religious vows

Monasterynoun

A house of religious retirement, or of secusion from ordinary temporal concerns, especially for monks; - more rarely applied to such a house for females.

Monasterynoun

the residence of a religious community

Monastery

A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel, church, or temple, and may also serve as an oratory, or in the case of communities anything from a single building housing only one senior and two or three junior monks or nuns, to vast complexes and estates housing tens or hundreds.