What's the difference between altar and shrine?

Altar


Definition:

  • (n.) A raised structure (as a square or oblong erection of stone or wood) on which sacrifices are offered or incense burned to a deity.
  • (n.) In the Christian church, a construction of stone, wood, or other material for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist; the communion table.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) From Africa, the archbishop of Kenya warned "the devil has entered the church", while a few days before the ceremony Robinson received a postcard from England, depicting the high altar of Durham cathedral and bearing the message: "You fornicating, lecherous pig."
  • (2) In its proposals the MoJ is displaying a callous disregard for the rights of its citizens, as client choice and quality of legal service have been sacrificed on the altar of price competition.
  • (3) Because of course nothing is more destructive of the sanctity of his own vocation than the suggestion that we simply don't need this kind of conservation – if that's what it really is – at all; that on the contrary, the entire "relaunch" is simply the bastard offspring of an orgiastic union between Mammon and science, consummated on the Stonehenge altar stone and observed by the fee-paying public.
  • (4) He thought he would be his altar boy but it turned out that Ahmadinejad wanted to be the priest."
  • (5) From glossy magazines to giant billboards and the celebrity culture we obsessively consume, all kneel at the altar of the airbrushed.
  • (6) His bedridden mother stumbled to her feet Tuesday to pray at the altar set up where he slept.
  • (7) Facebook Twitter Pinterest People pray in front of an altar especially set up Tama’s funeral in Kinokawa City, Wakayama prefecture.
  • (8) During the original trial, much emphasis was placed on the blasphemy of the women doing their dance right in front of the altar.
  • (9) The volte face was a result of Russian blackmail, the Lithuanian president's office said as senior officials in Brussels said Yanukovych was sacrificing the hopes and wishes of most of his countrymen on the altar of Russian money and contracts.
  • (10) Because by then I had learned, rubbing polish into an altar, that active citizenship is essential for any functioning democracy.
  • (11) Economics is thus humiliated on the altar of politics, and principle is sacrificed to expediency.
  • (12) Dr David Petts, a lecturer in archaeology at Durham University, said: "We found the Binchester head close to where a small Roman altar was found two years ago.
  • (13) How dangerously flimsy would one's marriage have to be before it felt threatened by other couples signing a different piece of paper – or, indeed, by a same sex couple following you to the altar?
  • (14) If a rock group invaded Westminster Abbey and gravely insulted a religious or ethnic minority before the high altar, we all know that ministers would howl for "exemplary punishment" and judges would oblige.
  • (15) The temple originally had a sunken nave flanked by seven symbolic pairs of pillars leading to the altar, a ritual well and raised seating on either side.
  • (16) In a country where voters do not want to sacrifice social welfare to the altar of austerity, analysts warn none of the main candidates are going far enough to slash spending.
  • (17) Though the Queen will not wear St Edward's crown, the heavy gold crown first used for Charles II's coronation, at Tuesday's service, it will be brought from its home at the Tower of London to rest on the abbey's high altar, along with the Ampulla, the hollow gold eagle from which oil was poured to anoint her in 1953.
  • (18) When the Dalai Lama came to collect his cheque at a ceremony in St Paul's Cathedral, eight Buddhist monks sat chanting in front of the high altar as the nave filled up.
  • (19) Dominique Venner , 78, a far-right essayist and historian took his life in front of the altar at Notre Dame on Tuesday after writing a blog condemning France's recently passed law allowing same-sex marriage and adoption.
  • (20) "Don't tell me that this Compeyson is the man who left Miss Havisham at the altar, that he is now searching for you in London, and that you are actually Estella's father."

Shrine


Definition:

  • (n.) A case, box, or receptacle, especially one in which are deposited sacred relics, as the bones of a saint.
  • (n.) Any sacred place, as an altar, tromb, or the like.
  • (n.) A place or object hallowed from its history or associations; as, a shrine of art.
  • (v. t.) To enshrine; to place reverently, as in a shrine.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Stonehenge stood at the heart of a sprawling landscape of chapels, burial mounds, massive pits and ritual shrines, according to an unprecedented survey of the ancient grounds.
  • (2) And Islamist extremists desecrated shrines built by Sufi Muslims and the graves of British soldiers.
  • (3) But this time warp is a Seville one, and all the statues of (ecclesiastical) virgins, winged cherubs, shrines and other Catholic paraphernalia, plus portraits of the late Duchess of Alba, give it a unique spirit, as do the clientele – largely local, despite Garlochí’s international fame as the city’s most kitsch bar.
  • (4) Four explosions hit the southern Damascus district of Sayeda Zeinab, where a revered Shia shrine is located, leaving 62 dead and 180 injured, according to the Observatory.
  • (5) Officials in Pakistan say they have killed at least 39 suspected militants in a sweeping security crackdown a day after a massive bombing claimed by Islamic State killed 88 people and injured hundreds more at a crowded shrine.
  • (6) Iran: 12 dead as Islamic State claims attacks on parliament and shrine Read more The mausoleum where Khomeini was laid to rest almost exactly 28 years ago, on 6 June 1989, is an enormous complex dominating the skyline south of Tehran.
  • (7) Built in 1869, the shrine deifies almost 2.5 million Japanese soldiers and civilians who died in wars since the second half of the 19th century.
  • (8) Francis, however, said the treatment hospital was a "shrine to human suffering" that emphasised the need to confront the scourge of drugs through education, justice and stronger social values.
  • (9) So intense was the pre‑match excitement in Dortmund over the return of the prodigal Jürg – much of it media-led – that walking around this flat, functional city on the afternoon of the game you half expected to stumble across Klopp shrines, New Orleans-style Klopp jazz funerals, to look up and find his great beaming visage looming over the city like some vast alien saucer.
  • (10) Then, in December, Abe paid a visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, where 14 war criminals from the second world war are honored.
  • (11) US secretary of state John Kerry lights a candle and lays roses at the 'shrine of the fallen' for protesters killed in Kiev.
  • (12) While there is little prospect of summit talks, Abe said he wanted to explain the reasons behind his visit to the shrine to Chinese leader Xi Jinping and South Korean president Park Geun-hye.
  • (13) Behind them, hundreds more slowly make their way up the steps in front of the hidden main sanctuary, waiting their turn to pray at Ise Jingu , Japan’s most revered Shinto shrine.
  • (14) But to do Hakone justice, find a reasonably priced ryokan and take a couple of days to explore the volcanic geysers of Owakudani, the botanical gardens, the cherry blossom in spring and Hakone shrine on the shore of the lake.
  • (15) Mourners pay tribute to the victim at a makeshift shrine in Delhi.
  • (16) Grace Roffe Idyllic village, Nepal Facebook Twitter Pinterest The entrance to the village shrine, Kakani.
  • (17) Read more While their main aim is to prevent the building becoming a shrine for the steady stream of neo-Nazi supporters who still make their way to Braunau, there has been an ongoing discussion over what more positive purpose it might serve.
  • (18) Although the double-decker bus height sarsens are undoubtedly the most impressive, Darvill and Wainwright believe they were essentially an architectural framework for the bluestones, just as towering medieval cathedrals grew over the shrines of saints.
  • (19) The Muslim Brotherhood's leader, Mohamed Badie, had earlier stoked tensions by calling Sisi's overthrow of Morsi a more heinous crime than the destruction of Islam's most sacred shrine.
  • (20) Ise Shrine is clearly an important historical and cultural site, so it would usually not be seen as a problematic place to visit,” said Mark Mullins, professor of Japanese studies at the University of Auckland.