1. covered walkways around a courtyard, typically in a monastery or college
Usage: architectural
2. a monastery or convent
Usage: religious

1. to seclude or shut up in a monastery or convent
Usage: formal

Examples

• The monks walked quietly through the stone cloisters.
• The university’s cloisters provided a peaceful place for study.
• She spent her final years in the cloisters of the abbey.
• The medieval cloisters were beautifully preserved.
• He cloisters himself in his study when writing.
• The nuns were cloistered from the outside world.
• Tourists admired the Gothic arches of the cloisters.