sepulcher

[ sep-uhl-ker ]

noun

1. a tomb, grave, or burial place.

   Synonyms: crypt, mausoleum, vault

2. Also called Easter sepulcher. Ecclesiastical.
   1. a cavity in a mensa for containing relics of martyrs.
   2. a structure or a recess in some old churches in which the Eucharist was deposited with due ceremonies on Good Friday and taken out at Easter in commemoration of Christ's entombment and Resurrection.

verb (used with object)

1. to place in a sepulcher; bury.

Other Words From

• un·sepul·cher verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of sepulcher¹

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English sepulcre, from Old French, from Latin sepulcrum, equivalent to sepul- (variant stem of sepelīre “to bury”) + -crum noun suffix of place

Example Sentences

Fans mark Marilyn Monroe’s crypt with lipsticky kisses, and are kept an enforced distance from Michael Jackson’s marble sepulcher in Glendale, at Forest Lawn.

From Los Angeles Times

The monastery’s onion-domed churches and hillside sepulchers, part of a complex dating back more than four centuries, were in the line of fire.

From Seattle Times

Dr. Reeves proposed that the tomb was, in fact, merely an antechamber to a grander sepulcher for Tutankhamun’s stepmother and predecessor, Nefertiti.

From New York Times

The remnants of this Bronze Age sepulcher, nicknamed the Spanish Stonehenge, are now fully exposed for only the fifth time since the area was deliberately flooded in 1963 as part of a rural development project.

From New York Times

The Senate’s official webpage says Democratic leaders assailed Nye, with Sen. Carter Glass of Virginia decrying him for “dirt-daubing the sepulcher of Woodrow Wilson.”

From Washington Post