cemetery

[ sem-i-ter-ee ]

noun

, plural cem·e·ter·ies.

1. an area set apart for or containing graves, tombs, or funeral urns, especially one that is not a churchyard; burial ground; graveyard.

cemetery

/ ˈsɛmɪtrɪ /

noun

1. a place where the dead are buried, esp one not attached to a church

Word History and Origins

Origin of cemetery¹

1375–1425; late Middle English < Late Latin coemētērium < Greek koimētḗrion a sleeping place, equivalent to koimē- (variant stem of koimân to put to sleep) + -tērion suffix of locality

Word History and Origins

Origin of cemetery¹

C14: from Late Latin coemētērium, from Greek koimētērion room for sleeping, from koiman to put to sleep

Example Sentences

Twenty-five other sites have been removed from the list as they are now considered safe, such as Abney Park Cemetery in Hackney.

From BBC

Tasked for the first time with finding the Korean War dead, she had to start from scratch by first compiling a list of the 300 British soldiers still missing, of which 76 were buried in the cemetery in Busan.

From BBC

Tabby has visited this cemetery twice before, in an attempt to get as close to her father as she thought possible, not knowing he was here all along.

From BBC

For decades, it lay in an unmarked grave in the UN cemetery in Busan, on Korea’s south coast, adorned with the plaque ‘Member of the British Army, known unto God’.

From BBC

Trump was famously dismissive of those who served and died in this nation’s wars, calling the fallen in a cemetery in France “losers” and once asking Kelly, whose son is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, “What’s in it for them?”

From Salon

Related Words

• garden
• graveyard
• mortuary
• tomb