mindmap root((道院)) cloister stresses the idea of seclusion from the world for either sex: kept a strict silence within the ~ walls. convent may refer to a retreat for either sex or may refer to a retreat for nuns and stresses the idea of community of living: the shared labor of life within the ~. monastery refers to a cloister for monks and may indicate a community that combines the cloistered life with teaching, preaching, or other work: left his job on Wall Street and entered a ~. nunnery often interchangeable with convent, refers to a cloister for nuns: found life in a ~ too restrictive. abbey denotes a monastery or a nunnery governed by an abbot or an abbess: took the message to the abbot at the ~. priory indicates a community governed by a prior or prioress: summoned the inhabitants of the ~ for matins.