charnel
Americannoun
adjective
noun
adjective
Etymology
Origin of charnel
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin carnāle, noun and adjective use of neuter of carnālis carnal
Vocabulary lists containing charnel
"The Pit and the Pendulum," Vocabulary from the short story
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"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 4
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Body Language: Carn ("Flesh")
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Scaled up to a necropolis, it could make the right impression, a modernist Hooverville of death in the shadow of our great national charnel house of inaction.
From Washington Post • May 25, 2022
Above their heads: a charnel house of endangered trees.
From Scientific American • Dec. 15, 2021
The consignment of Vietnamese civilian war wounded to provincial hospitals that were little better than charnel houses has been a national scandal for the United States.
From New York Times • Oct. 21, 2021
How and which stories about Black life rise to prominence in mainstream culture is a discussion that's been running for decades, but this charnel house of a year gave it new life.
From Salon • Dec. 16, 2020
Cuthbert, Archbishop of Canterbury, first sanctioned the use of churches, for charnel houses, in 758—though Augustine had previously forbidden the practice.
From Dealings with the Dead, Volume I (of 2) by School, A Sexton of the Old
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.