basilica
/bəˈsɪlɪkə/ noun
Forms basilicas basilicae
- noun (architecture) A Christian church building having a nave with a semicircular apse, side aisles, a narthex and a clerestory.
- noun A Roman Catholic church or cathedral with basilican status, an honorific status granted by the pope to recognize its historical, architectural, or sacramental importance.
- noun (obsolete) An apartment provided in the houses of persons of importance, where assemblies were held for dispensing justice; hence, any large hall used for this purpose.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin basilica, from Ancient Greek βᾰσῐλῐκή (băsĭlĭkḗ), from βᾰσῐλῐκὴ στοά (băsĭlĭkḕ stoá, “royal hall”), ultimately from βασιλικός (basilikós, “royal”), from βασιλεύς (basileús, “king, chief”). Doublet of basoche.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Originally, the place of a king; but afterward, an apartment provided in the houses of persons of importance, where assemblies were held for dispensing justice; and hence, any large hall used for this purpose.
- noun (a) A building used by the Romans as a place of public meeting, with court rooms, etc., attached.
- noun A digest of the laws of Justinian, translated from the original Latin into Greek, by order of Basil I., in the ninth century. P. Cyc.
Etymology [L. basilica, Gr. ( sc. , or ) fr. royal, fr. .]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “basilica”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details