noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The rounded east end of a church that contains or is behind the altar.

   "Holonyms: church, cathedral"

2. 2
   An aspen tree. dialectal, obsolete
3. 3
   a domed or vaulted recess or projection on a building especially the east end of a church; usually contains the altar wordnet
4. 4
   The rounded east end of a church that contains or is behind the altar.; The interior portion of this section of the church building, excluding the ambulatory and any apse chapels.
5. 5
   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."

Show 3 more definitions

6. 6
   The bishop's seat or throne in ancient churches.
7. 7
   A reliquary: a case in which the relics of saints are kept.
8. 8
   Obsolete form of apsis (“the nearest and furthest points to the centre of gravitational attraction for a body in orbit”). alt-of, obsolete

Synonyms

All synonyms

apsisapsideabsideambryapsidapsis

Example

More examples

"Meronyms: ambulatory, apse chapels"

Etymology

From Latin apsis, hapsis, from Ancient Greek ἁψίς (hapsís, “arch, vault”), from ἅπτω (háptō, “I bind, join”).

Related phrases

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.