nave
Americannoun
noun
noun
Etymology
Origin of nave
First recorded in 1665–75; from Medieval Latin nāvis, Latin: “ship”; so called from the resemblance in shape
Explanation
When a bride walks down the aisle in a church, she is walking down the nave, or central area of the church. The word nave comes from the Latin navis, meaning "ship." If you think of the central space of a big Gothic church with its high vaulted ceiling, it does kind of form the shape of a ship, doesn't it? The nave is the area where the congregation sits. It's usually rectangular in shape and filled with rows of benches.
Vocabulary lists containing nave
Built To Last: Architectural Parlance
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30 GRE Words Beginning with "K" "L""M" and "N" and "O"
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"St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" by Karen Russell
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the nave she will swear an oath on the Saint John's Bible, the first time a new bible has been used since 1945, in what is being seen as a reflection of modernisation.
From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026
As a viewer marches down the nave toward the high altar, the apostles also come into view, on a trompe l’oeil ledge.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026
For example, archaeologist Cédric Moulis of the University of Lorraine painstakingly reassembled dozens of wedge-shaped stones called voussoirs recovered from the collapsed vaulted ceiling over the nave to glean insights into their mechanical properties.
From Science Magazine • Dec. 5, 2024
Born in New York City into an observant Jewish family, he owns a small timber framing business in rural New England and admits that until recently he didn’t even know what a nave was.
From New York Times • Mar. 29, 2024
Emma, who finally agreed that Charles would have graciously accepted the offer, only wished he could be closer to his friend Charles Lyell, who was buried in the nave of the abbey, too.
From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
