altar
Syllables: al·tarUK/ˈɒl.tə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈɔl.tə/
altar noun: a table or similar flat-topped structure used for religious rites.
Noun
altar (plural altars)
- A table or similar flat-topped structure used for religious rites.
- To hawke, or els to hunt
From the auter to the funt,
Wyth cry unreverent,
Before the sacrament,
Wythin the holy church bowndis,
That of our fayth the grownd is.c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 62, lines 9–14 - Wax models of the pudenda of both sexes were regularly placed before the altar.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 228
- To hawke, or els to hunt
- A raised area around an altar in a church; the sanctuary.
- Any (real or notional) place where something is worshipped or sacrificed to.
- […]now marking the end of ascetic rationalism, the monadology no longer implied a sacrifice of individuality on the altar of rationality.2000, Alain Renaut, M. B. De Bevoise, “Hegel and Nietzsche”, in Era of the Individual: A Contribution to a History of Subjectivity, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page...
altar meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
altar in Hindi
- flat-topped structure used for religious rites
- वेदी vedī
altar in Tamil
- flat-topped structure used for religious rites
- பலிபீடம் palipīṭam
altar in Marathi
- flat-topped structure used for religious rites
- वेदी vedī
altar in Urdu
- flat-topped structure used for religious rites
- قربان گاہ qurban gāh
More languagesFewer languages
- altar in Bengali
- পূজাবেদি pujabedi, বেদি bedi
- altar in Telugu
- బలిపీఠము balipīṭhamu
- altar in Malayalam
- അൾത്താര aḷttāra, മദ്ബഹാ madbahā
- altar in Kannada
- ಬಲಿಪೀಠ balipīṭha, ಯಜ್ಞವೇದಿಕೆ yajñavēdike
- altar in Punjabi
- ਬੇਦੀ bedī, ਪੀਠ pīṭh
- altar in Gujarati
- યજ્ઞવેદી yajñavedī
- altar in Odia
- ମଣ୍ଡପ maṇḍapa
- altar in Sanskrit
- मान mā́na, पीठ pīṭha, आयतन āyátana, स्थान sthā́na
- altar in Sinhala
- පූජාසනය pūjāsanaya
- altar in Nepali
- वेदी vedī
- altar in Tagalog
- dambana, altar
- altar in Arabic
- مَذْبَح maḏbaḥ, هَيْكَل haykal, مِحْرَاب miḥrāb
- altar in Malay
- mazbah, mezbah
- altar in Indonesian
- altar, mezbah
- altar in Persian
- محراب mehrâb, مذبح mazbah
- altar in Thai
- แท่นบูชา tɛ̂ɛn-buu-chaa
- altar in Vietnamese
- bàn thờ
- altar in Myanmar
- ယဇ် ပလ္လင် yaj pallang
Examples of altar in a sentence
- I kept saccing monsters at the altar until I was rewarded with a new weapon.
- The altar boys got in trouble after they were caught sampling the sacramental wine instead of just passing it to the priest before communion.
- Altar tombs were often placed over the vaults or burying-place, and frequently on the north and south walls of choirs, aisles, and chantry chapels.
Forms of altar
| plural | altars |
|---|
Origin of altar
Inherited from Middle English auter, inherited from Old English altar and borrowed from Old French auter, both derived from Latin altāre, probably related to adolere (“burn”); thus "burning place", influenced by altus (“high”). Displaced native Middle English wēved.
Words formed from altar
- altarage
- altar bell
- altar boy
- altar bread
- altar call
- altar card
- altar carpet
- altar cloth
- altar-cloth
- altared
- altar girl
- altar guild
- altarist
- altarless
- altarlet
- altarlike
- altar of repose
- altarpiece
- altar poem
- altar screen
- altar server
- altar society
- altar stone
- altar-stone
- altar tomb
- altarward
- altarware
- altar wine
- altarwise
- high altar
- Lady altar
- lead someone to the altar
- leave someone at the altar
- superaltar
Phrases with altar
- altar boys
- altar bells
- altar calls
- altar cards
- altar girls
- altar poems
- altar tombs
- altar wines
- altar breads
- altar cloths
- altar guilds
- altar stones
7 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with altar
Questions about altar
- What does altar mean?
- Altar means a table or similar flat-topped structure used for religious rites.
- What is altar in Hindi?
- Altar in Hindi is वेदी (vedī). See Altar meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is altar?
- Altar is a noun.
- How do you pronounce altar?
- Altar is pronounced /ˈɒl.tə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of altar?
- The plural of altar is altars.
Words near altar in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: altar (page history and authors); ମଣ୍ଡପ (Odia) (page history and authors); आयतन (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-altar.ogg.
Cite this entry: “altar.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/altar. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.