asylum

noun

Definitions of asylum

English

a mental hospital (=a hospital for people with a mental illness)

It was built during the nineteenth century as a lunatic asylum, though that term is no longer used.

English

the protection given by a country to someone who has left their own country too escape war or political trouble

Some 13, 000 Zimbabweans have sought asylum in the UK over the past five years and a third were granted asylum.