apse
About 0.55 uses per million words.
Meaning
- noun The rounded east (liturgical east) end of a church that contains or is behind the altar.
Our private tour of the cathedral even allowed us to walk through the apse, which most tours don't.
- noun The interior portion of this section of the church building, excluding the ambulatory and any apse chapels.
- noun A semicircular projection from any building that is similar to a church's apse.
The college has an apse that once held a small chapel.
- noun The bishop's seat or throne in ancient churches.
- noun A reliquary: a case in which the relics of saints are kept.
- noun Obsolete form of apsis (“the nearest and furthest points to the centre of gravitational attraction for a body in orbit”).
- noun An aspen tree.
Similar words
apsis chevet apse chapel apsidole ressaut retrochoir antechapel basilica scape archway
Often followed by
of and is was at with in mosaic are
Word family
apses
Save “apse” to learn later