Chapel Definition

chăpəl

noun

A place of Christian worship subordinate to and smaller than a church.

Webster's New World

A room or building used as a place of worship, as in a hospital, school, or army post.

Webster's New World

A room or recess in a church, set apart for special services and having its own altar.

Webster's New World

A similar room in some Jewish synagogues.

Webster's New World

A service in a chapel, or any religious service, as at a school.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

adjective

(in Wales) Describing a person who attends a nonconformist chapel.

The village butcher is chapel.

Wiktionary

verb

(nautical) To cause (a ship taken aback in a light breeze) to turn or make a circuit so as to recover, without bracing the yards, the same tack on which she had been sailing.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Chapel

Noun

Singular:

chapel

Plural:

chapels

Origin of Chapel

Middle English chapele from Old French from Medieval Latin capella chapel, canopy, cape (perhaps from a shrine containing the cape of St. Martin of Tours) diminutive of capa from Late Latin cappa hooded cloak

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition