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Refuge vs Seek - What's the difference?

refuge | seek |

As verbs the difference between refuge and seek

is that refuge is to return to a place of shelter while seek is (lb) to try to find, to look for, to search.

As a noun refuge

is a state of safety, protection or shelter.

refuge

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A state of safety, protection or shelter.
  • * Milton
  • Rocks, dens, and caves! But I in none of these / Find place or refuge .
  • A place providing safety, protection or shelter.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.}}
  • Something or someone turned to for safety or assistance; a recourse or resort.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 21, author=Helen Pidd, work=the Guardian
  • , title= Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis , passage=Since its conception, the European Union has been a haven for those seeking refuge from war, persecution and poverty in other parts of the world.}}
  • An expedient to secure protection or defence.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Their latest refuge / Was to send him.

    Synonyms

    * haven * sanctuary * zoar

    Derived terms

    * refugee * refugium

    Verb

    (refug)
  • To return to a place of shelter.
  • * 2011 , Michael D. Gumert, ?Agustín Fuentes, ?Lisa Jones-Engel, Monkeys on the Edge
  • Among these macaques, although activity cycles are quite variable from location to location, refuging is a common characteristic.
  • (obsolete) To shelter; to protect.
  • ----

    seek

    English

    Verb

  • (lb) To try to find, to look for, to search.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Catherine Clabby
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Focus on Everything , passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.
  • (label) To inquire for; to ask for; to solicit; to beseech.
  • :
  • *Bible, (w) xi. 16
  • *:Others, tempting him, sought of him a sign.
  • *1960 , (Lobsang Rampa), :
  • *:“My, my! It is indeed a long way yet, look you!” said the pleasant woman of whom I sought directions.
  • (lb) To try to acquire or gain; to strive after; to aim at.
  • :
  • *1880 , , :
  • *:But persecution sought the lives of men of this character.
  • *1886 , Constantine Popoff, translation of (Leo Tolstoy)'s :
  • *:I can no longer seek fame or glory, nor can I help trying to get rid of my riches, which separate me from my fellow-creatures.
  • *
  • *:Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.
  • To go, move, travel (in a given direction).
  • :
  • *, Bk.V:
  • *:Ryght so he sought towarde Sandewyche where he founde before hym many galyard knyghtes
  • (lb) To try to reach or come to; to go to; to resort to.
  • *:
  • *:Seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
  • *1726 (tr.), (Alexander Pope), ''(Homer)'s (Odyssey), Book II, line 33
  • *:Since great Ulysses sought the Phrygian plains
  • Quotations

    Synonyms

    * look for * search

    Derived terms

    * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l)