Meanings
plural high altars
- The main altar in a church, situated on the main axis at the east of the chancel or choir.
1 more example
In the same year as the Furness objection, sadder tidings befell St Pancras Priory at Lewes, in East Sussex. Despite it having the distinction of being the earliest Cluniac monastery in Great Britain, petitions to prevent the Brighton Lewes & Hastings Railway from imposing on its site with its Lewes line failed. The line was approved and, as if as an act of deliberate desecration and assertion of the railways' power, passed over the site of the high altar.
2022 January 12, Dr. Joseph Brennan, “Castles: ruined and redeemed by rail”, in RAIL, number 948, page 57
Translations
Catalan altar major
- altar majormain altar in a church
Chinese Mandarin 主祭台
- 主祭台 (zhǔjìtái)main altar in a church
Finnish pääalttari
- pääalttarimain altar in a church
French maître-autel
- maître-autelmain altar in a church
German Hochaltar
- Hochaltarmain altar in a church
Greek Αγία Τράπεζα
- Αγία Τράπεζα (Agía Trápeza)main altar in a church
Hungarian főoltár
- főoltármain altar in a church
Icelandic háaltari
- háaltarimain altar in a church
Polish ołtarz główny
- ołtarz głównymain altar in a church
Portuguese altar-mor
- altar-mormain altar in a church
Swedish högaltare
- högaltaremain altar in a church
Cite this entry
high altar. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/high%20altar
“high altar.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/high%20altar. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “high altar,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/high%20altar.
Source: high altar on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.