1. a decorative screen or wall behind an altar in a church
Usage: architecture; religious

Examples

• The medieval church featured an ornate wooden retable carved with scenes from the Bible.
• The restoration team carefully cleaned the gilded retable behind the main altar.
• Visitors admired the intricate paintings on the Gothic retable.
• The artist was commissioned to create a new retable for the cathedral.
• The retable depicted the life of Christ in vivid detail.
• Candles flickered in front of the ancient stone retable.