Definition of "altarpiece" []

• A piece of artwork, such as a painting or carving, that is placed above and behind an altar. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The main altarpiece is made of wooden with simple ornaments."
• "The elegant main altarpiece or retablo, a large triptych, is thought to be the oldest surviving work of its kind in Mexico."
• "Over the high altar is a baldacchino on columns decorated with eleventh-century reliefs; the altarpiece is the famous Pala d'oro (Golden Pall), Byzantine metal - work of the year 1105, originally designed for an antependium."