These words are alike in denoting a place where one is guarded or defended from attack or injury; they are used also to designate the condition of safety or security which such a place provides. Protection is the most general and widely applied word in this group. It can refer to anything that shields from harm or destruction.

• A strong defence system offers protection from sudden attack by an enemy; wire screens provide protection from mosquitoes.

Shelter usually connotes temporary protection , as from exposure to the elements: an awning under which we found shelter during the shower. Refuge suggests the safety one seeks when one is threatened or when one has escaped from danger or distress: a prisoner on the run who took refuge in an abandoned shack. Figuratively refuge refers to any expedient which is used to proved safety or defence: His final refuge was a web of lies and deceit. Both refuge and shelter are used to denote places in which the homeless may find some care and charity Salvation Army shelter ; aimless men huddled together in the city refuge . Cover is protection which affords safety through concealment. It can be the natural shelter of trees or bushes used by wild animals: Take cover in the barn as soon as you hear gunfire. It can be a military tactic used by troops, vessels, etc.: Most Allied landings in World War II would not have been possible without continuous air cover .

Asylum and sanctuary are related in meaning. Asylum originally designated the inviolable refuge from arrest or punishment offered by the temple in ancient times; sanctuary was the later Christian equivalent. Today such immunity from arrest, punishment or persecution is fixed by national boundaries rather than by those of a church or temple. Asylum and sanctuary are, therefore, most often applied to the protection offered to a political refugee by a foreign country or its diplomatic official: A dictator deposed by a successful revolution may find asylum (or sanctuary ) in another country. Sanctuary , by extension, has come to refer also to those areas set apart for the protection and preservation of wildlife: a bird sanctuary .

SEE; escape, protect.