[Vocabulary] steeple vs spire

[ChessEnthusiast]

What is the difference between these two words?
Do they both refer to the "needle" at the very top of a church tower?

 

[emsr2d2]

What definitions have you found for the two words in various dictionaries? You need to show us that you have done some work yourself - we try not to spoonfeed answers to people on the forum.

 

[ChessEnthusiast]

I know what "spire" means, but I found the definition of "steeple" which means exactly the same and refers to this needle.
Thus, are they interchangeable?

 

[ChessEnthusiast]

Ahh, so "steeples" refers to the entire tower, thanks!
But - therefore - one thing is quite disturbing
What is the cause of some dictioneries providing incorrect definitions? Is this word out of use?

 

[GoesStation]

Most Americans who know a word for the pointy thing at the top of a church would call it a steeple. The names of the components are more technical, and would likely be known correctly by architects and people with a particular interest, though they'd be familiar as general top-of-a-church-related words to a larger population. Belfry is familiar from the idiom bats in one's belfry, but few people could identify that part of a steeple.