Chapel Meaning
/ˈt͡ʃæp.əl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA place of worship, smaller than or subordinate to a church.
nounA place of worship in another building or within a civil institution such as a larger church, airport, prison, monastery, school, etc.; often primarily for private prayer.
Sentence Examples
The Sistine Chapel is a vast chapel built inside the Vatican Palace in 1473.
Tom was surprised to find Mary sitting all alone in the chapel.
Note the fine early Baroque altar inside the chapel.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The wedding ceremony will take place in a small stone ____ behind the main church.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The small ____ in the woods is a very peaceful place for prayer.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English chapele, chapel, from Old French chapele, from Late Latin cappella (“little cloak; chapel”), diminutive of cappa (“cloak, cape”). Doublet of capelle. (printing office): Said to be because printing was first carried on in England in a chapel near Westminster Abbey.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”"
— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter III, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
"give us the bones Of our dead kings, that we may chapel them!"
— 1613–1614, William Shakespeare, John Fletcher, “The Two Noble Kinsmen”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The wedding ceremony will take place in a small stone ____ behind the main church.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The small ____ in the woods is a very peaceful place for prayer.