bema
Americannoun
-
bemata,
plural
-
bemas
plural
-
Eastern Church. the enclosed space surrounding the altar; the sanctuary or chancel.
-
(in a Christian basilica) an open space between the end of the nave arcade and the apse.
-
a platform for public speaking.
noun
-
the speaker's platform in the assembly in ancient Athens
-
Eastern Orthodox Church a raised area surrounding the altar in a church; the sanctuary
-
Judaism another word for almemar
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bema
1675–85; < Greek bêma step, platform, equivalent to bē- (verbid stem of baínein to step, go; see come) + -ma (noun suffix denoting result of action)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The apsidal chambers, usual in a church, are here represented by two niches in the bema.
From Byzantine Churches in Constantinople Their History and Architecture by Alexander Van Millingen
The eastern dome arch is prolonged into a barrel-vaulted bema, flanked by shallow niches leading to the prothesis and diaconicon, and beyond the bema is the semicircular apse.
From Byzantine Churches in Constantinople Their History and Architecture by Alexander Van Millingen
It is particularly used of the lattice or screen in the ancient basilica, which separated the bema, or raised tribunal, from the rest of the building.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 7 "Cerargyrite" to "Charing Cross" by Various
The chamber in the south-eastern pier is lighted by a window looking northwards, and has a door in the east side of the passage from the bema to the south-eastern chapel.
From Byzantine Churches in Constantinople Their History and Architecture by Alexander Van Millingen
The niches in the bema only rise to a short distance above the floor, not, as on the opposite side, to above the cornice.
From Byzantine Churches in Constantinople Their History and Architecture by Alexander Van Millingen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
