mausoleum
Americannoun
plural
mausoleums, mausolea-
a stately and magnificent tomb.
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a burial place for the bodies or remains of many individuals, often of a single family, usually in the form of a small building.
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a large, gloomy, depressing building, room, or the like.
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(initial capital letter) the tomb erected at Halicarnassus in Asia Minor in 350? b.c.
noun
Other Word Forms
- mausolean adjective
Etymology
Origin of mausoleum
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin < Greek Mausoleîon the tomb of Mausolus, king of Caria
Explanation
A mausoleum is a building that contains a tomb or tombs. The Taj Mahal, built by Shah Jahan as a monument to his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, is the world's most famous mausoleum. Mausoleion, the Greek source of the Latinized mausoleum, was the name given to the tomb of the King Mausolus, a Persian ruler who died in 353 B.C.E. This vast elaborate structure was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Other notable mausoleums or mausolea include the mausoleum of China's First Qin Emperor –- the site of the famous Terra Cotta Army — and the tombs of Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln.
Vocabulary lists containing mausoleum
You Name It: Eponyms
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Some Obscure Eponyms
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100 Great Words from "Fahrenheit 451" -- Part I Vocabulary
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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.
She spoke during a symbolic visit to the eastern city of Nanjing, where she visited the mausoleum of revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen, one of the few Chinese historical figures revered in both Beijing and Taipei.
From Barron's • Apr. 8, 2026
A footballing mausoleum of memories and moments, both awe-inspiring and harrowing.
From BBC • Nov. 18, 2025
Odinga was buried nearby at his late father's homestead, where there is a family mausoleum.
From BBC • Oct. 19, 2025
Robert Badinter, the justice minister who ended the death penalty in France in 1981, entered the country's Pantheon mausoleum of outstanding historical figures on Thursday, just hours after his grave was vandalised.
From Barron's • Oct. 9, 2025
But behind the mausoleum, in the dim light of the torch, he found a stack of old fence posts.
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
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.
