altar

Etymology

From Middle English alter, from Old English alter, taken from Latin altare (“altar”), probably related to adolere (“burn”); thus "burning place", influenced by altus (“high”). Displaced native Old English wēofod.

noun

  1. A table or similar flat-topped structure used for religious rites.
  2. (informal) A raised area around an altar in a church; the sanctuary.
  3. (figurative) Any (real or notional) place where something is worshipped or sacrificed to.
    […] now marking the end of ascetic rationalism, the monadology no longer implied a sacrifice of individuality on the altar of rationality. 2000, Alain Renaut, M. B. De Bevoise, Era of the Individual: A Contribution to a History of Subjectivity

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