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chancel.

The space around the altar in a church or cathedral, often enclosed, for use by the clergy and the choir. In medieval cathedrals the chancel was usually enclosed or blocked off from the nave by an altar screen.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈtʃɑːnsəl/Received-Pronunciation/ˈt͡ʃænsəl/US
  1. The space around the altar in a church or cathedral, often enclosed, for use by the clergy and the choir. In medieval cathedrals the chancel was usually enclosed or blocked off from the nave by an altar screen.

  2. The space around the altar in a church or cathedral, often enclosed, for use by the clergy and the choir. In medieval cathedrals the chancel was usually enclosed or blocked off from the nave by an altar screen. The entire end of the church in which the altar stands, including the apse and the ambulatory.

    broadly
  3. The space around the altar in a church or cathedral, often enclosed, for use by the clergy and the choir. In medieval cathedrals the chancel was usually enclosed or blocked off from the nave by an altar screen. A certain central portion of that end of the church, excluding the apse and the ambulatory.

Where this word comes from

From Old French chancel. Doublet of cancellus.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.