Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🏠 A group house ⛪ A meeting room
chapterhouse

chapterhouse

9.9
A building next to a cathedral or monastery where church leaders meet
  • noun
  • /ˈtʃæptərˌhaʊs/
translation icon : capítulo
  • The monks gathered in the chapterhouse for their meeting.

Examples

  • The monks gathered in the chapterhouse every morning to discuss abbey matters.

  • Restoration work was recently completed on the medieval chapterhouse adjacent to the cloister.

  • The cathedral's chapterhouse is famous for its intricate stained glass windows.

  • Have you seen the new chapterhouse at the cathedral?

  • The monks gathered in the chapterhouse to discuss the upcoming festival.

  • After the evening service, the congregation met in the chapterhouse to plan their community outreach.

  • The chapterhouse was beautifully decorated for the annual meeting of the monastery's leadership.

Synonyms

meetinghouse
vschapterhouse
1 8.4

A simple building where people meet for religious services, often used by Quakers

is attached to a monastery or cathedral and used by church leaders to meet
conventicle
vschapterhouse
  • Archaic
9.9

A small building where people gather to worship, often used by Quakers

is attached to a monastery or cathedral and used by church leaders to meet

How Large

abbey
81 6.5
chapterhouse
9.9
cloister
3 8.6
room
∞ 1.0
cell
34 6.1

Surface Forms

chapterhouse singular
chapterhouses plural

Morphology

chapterhouse = chapter + house (transparent) = chapter + house

Meaning is directly derived from 'chapter' + 'house' — the meeting-place building for a cathedral or monastery chapter.

Etymology

Chapterhouse comes from chapter, which originally meant 'a part of a book' and became the name for the meeting when monks read that chapter, and house. So a chapterhouse is the room or building next to a monastery or cathedral where the religious group met.