Word.ws English Dictionary

iconostasis

/ˌaɪkəˈnɒstəsɪs/

iconostasis noun: a wall of icons between the sanctuary and the nave in an Eastern Orthodox church.

iconostasis: a wall of icons between the sanctuary and the nave in an Eastern Orthodox church
Image: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

iconostasis (plural iconostases or iconostaseis)

  1. (Eastern Orthodoxy) A wall of icons between the sanctuary and the nave in an Eastern Orthodox church.
    • The golden glitter on the crimson background of the iconostasis, the gilt ornaments of the icons, the silver of the chandeliers and candlesticks, the flagstones of the floor, the mats, the banners above the choir, the steps of the ambo, the ancient books black with age, the cassocks and surplices...1918 [1878], chapter 3, in Aylmer and Louise Maude, transl., Anna Karenina, Cambridge: Oxford University Press, translation of Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by Leo Tolstoy, →OCLC, part 5, page 12
    • The altar was hidden behind an Iconostasis. The church was looked after by an old sacristan who lived in a cottage on the shore of the lake.1932, Maurice Baring, chapter 10, in Friday's Business

iconostasis meaning in Arabic

iconostasis in Arabic

a wall of icons
حَاجِز الأَيْقُونِيّ ḥājiz al-ʔayqūniyy

Forms of iconostasis

pluraliconostases
pluraliconostaseis
alternative formiconstasis

Origin of iconostasis

Borrowed from Byzantine Greek εἰκονόστασις (eikonóstasis), from εἰκών (eikṓn, “icon”) + στάσις (stásis, “fixture”).

Questions about iconostasis

What does iconostasis mean?
Iconostasis means a wall of icons between the sanctuary and the nave in an Eastern Orthodox church.
What is iconostasis in Arabic?
Iconostasis in Arabic is حَاجِز الأَيْقُونِيّ (ḥājiz al-ʔayqūniyy). See Iconostasis meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is iconostasis?
Iconostasis is a noun.
How do you pronounce iconostasis?
Iconostasis is pronounced /ˌaɪkəˈnɒstəsɪs/.
What is the plural of iconostasis?
The plural of iconostasis is iconostases.

Words near iconostasis in the dictionary

  1. iconostas
  2. iconostaseis
  3. iconostases
  4. iconostasia
  5. iconostasion
  6. iconostasis
  7. iconotext
  8. iconotexts
  9. iconotextual
  10. iconotextuality
  11. iconotextually

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: iconostasis (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-iconostasis.ogg.

Cite this entry: “iconostasis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/iconostasis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.