lady chapel
- noun
:
capilla de la Virgen
- The cathedral's lady chapel features stunning stained glass windows dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Examples
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During morning prayers, the congregation gathered quietly in the lady chapel.
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A wedding was held in the historic lady chapel at the back of the church.
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The lady chapel is beautifully decorated.
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Many visitors admire the lady chapel at St. Mary's Church.
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The cathedral's lady chapel features stunning stained glass windows dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
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During morning prayers, the congregation gathered quietly in the lady chapel.
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A wedding was held in the historic lady chapel at the back of the church.
Synonyms
114
2.8
A small room for Christian worship often in a school or hospital
1
8.1
A small chapel or room used for private prayer
1
6.5
A small room beside a church aisle for private prayer or small services
Surface Forms
Morphology
lady + chapel
The constituent 'chapel' clearly signals a small worship space and 'lady' suggests association with a woman, so learners can plausibly guess it refers to a chapel linked to a female figure. However, the conventional reference to the Virgin Mary (the title 'Lady' in a religious sense) is culturally specific and not predictable from basic word knowledge alone, so the exact dedicated-to-Mary meaning may not be obvious to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Lady chapel comes from old churches: it was a small chapel kept for the Lady, a respectful name for 'the Virgin Mary'. So, lady chapel means a small chapel in a church dedicated to 'the Virgin Mary'.