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high altar

British  

noun

  1. the principal altar of a church

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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"When she died she was buried beside the high altar in Kildare," she said.

From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2026

As a viewer marches down the nave toward the high altar, the apostles also come into view, on a trompe l’oeil ledge.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba laid a small box containing Tutu’s remains to rest in the floor in front of the high altar at St George’s Cathedral.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 2, 2022

On September 14, 2001, speaking from the high altar of the National Cathedral, in Washington, D.C.,

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 12, 2019

Upon the high altar stood a golden monstrance in the shape of a sunburst, at the center of which—exposed through a tiny window— was the round wafer of bread.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez

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