chan·cel

(chăn′səl)

The space around the altar of a church for the clergy and sometimes the choir, often enclosed by a lattice or railing.

[Middle English chauncel, from Old French chancel, from Late Latin cancellus, latticework, sing. of Latin cancellī; see cancel.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

chancel

(ˈtʃɑːnsəl)

1. (Ecclesiastical Terms) the part of a church containing the altar, sanctuary, and choir, usually separated from the nave and transepts by a screen

2. (Architecture) the part of a church containing the altar, sanctuary, and choir, usually separated from the nave and transepts by a screen

[C14: from Old French, from Latin cancellī (plural) lattice]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

chan•cel

(ˈtʃæn səl, ˈtʃɑn-)

n.

the space around the altar of a church, usu. enclosed, for the use of the clergy and other officials.

[1275–1325; Middle English < Middle French < Late Latin cancellus lattice, railing or screen before the altar of a church, Latin cancell(ī) (pl.) lattice, grating; see cancel]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

chancel - area around the altar of a church for the clergy and choir; often enclosed by a lattice or railing

bema, sanctuary

area - a part of a structure having some specific characteristic or function; "the spacious cooking area provided plenty of room for servants"

choir - the area occupied by singers; the part of the chancel between sanctuary and nave

church building, church - a place for public (especially Christian) worship; "the church was empty"

Translations

chancel

coro

chancel

[ˈtʃɑːnsəl] N → coro m y presbiterio

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

chancel

[ˈtʃɑːns^əl] n → chœur m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

chancel

n → Chor m, → Altarraum m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

chancel

[ˈtʃɑːns/əl] n → coro

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The Bishop had hurriedly donned his gown and now stood ready to meet the couple at the chancel.

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Newland Archer, at a signal from the sexton, had come out of the vestry and placed himself with his best man on the chancel step of Grace Church.

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He knew that he would have to walk alone through the chancel, and he dreaded showing his limp thus obviously, not only to the whole school, who were attending the service, but also to the strangers, people from the city or parents who had come to see their sons confirmed.

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The curate's pew was opposite the rector's at the entrance of the small chancel, and Will had time to fear that Dorothea might not come while he looked round at the group of rural faces which made the congregation from year to year within the white-washed walls and dark old pews, hardly with more change than we see in the boughs of a tree which breaks here and there with age, but yet has young shoots.

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I think I shall never hear Elizabeth's voice again, never look into her eyes, never kiss her dear lips--but Elizabeth is still mine, and I am hers, as in that morning when we kissed in that little chancel amid the flickering light, and passed out into the sun and down the lanes, to our little home among the meadow-sweet.

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Then, the Sacristan locks the iron-barred gates that divide the sanctuary from the chancel, and all of the procession having scuttled into their places, hide their faces; and then the intoned words, 'WHEN THE WICKED MAN--' rise among groins of arches and beams of roof, awakening muttered thunder.

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In the chancel was a twisted stone column, and the captain told us a legend about it, of course, for in the matter of legends he could not seem to restrain himself; but I do not repeat his tale because there was nothing plausible about it except that the Hero wrenched this column into its present screw-shape with his hands --just one single wrench.

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The walls of the chancel are of porcelain, all pictured over with figures of almost life size, very elegantly wrought and dressed in the fanciful costumes of two centuries ago.

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Everybody looked at her feet; and when she stepped through the chancel door on the church pavement, it seemed to her as if the old figures on the tombs, those portraits of old preachers and preachers' wives, with stiff ruffs, and long black dresses, fixed their eyes on her red shoes.

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The pulpit and desk, grey and old as the pews, stood on one side of the arch leading into the chancel, which also had its grey square pews for Mr.

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Or was the vault under the chancel of Gateshead Church an inviting bourne?

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Richard well knew that, when he came to propose a reading-desk and a chancel, he must unmask; for these were arrangements known to no church in the country but his own.

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