Definition of "stupa" [stupa]

• A dome-shaped monument, used to house Buddhist relics or to commemorate significant facts of Buddhism or Jainism. Also called tope3. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The word "stupa" is Sanskrit for "to heap" and this refers to the mound like shape of the earliest stupas."
• "Stupa project director, Ian Green, said more Buddhists have moved to Bendigo in recent years to take part in the construction of the two-storey stupa, which is being funded with donations from around the world."
• "A stupa is usually a mound consecrated to the Buddha, so that the mud pies mentioned above are a form of stupa."