What's the difference?

Refuge/refugee

 

A refugee, which most people know, means ‘a person (or people) forced to leave their country (or even home) because of a war or their political or religious beliefs’.

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However, a refuge is something different.

 

As part of a noun phrase, to take refuge means you try to protect yourself in a particular place so you don’t get hurt or affected in some way: take refuge from the rain under a tree. You should take refuge as quickly as you can in a thunderstorm. It can also be a place where you go for safety and protection such as a mountain refuge hut (or a schronisko, as you call them in Poland) or a place where, for example, women can go to if they feel problems at home threaten their safety: We’ll stay the night in that mountain refuge. It’s a refuge for people who feel vulnerable at home because of domestic violence. We need more refuges for the homeless.

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