cemetery

English

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

Alternative forms

• cœmeterium (history)
• cœmetery (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English cimiterie, from Old French cimitiere, from Medieval Latin cimitērium, from Late Latin coemētērium, from Ancient Greek κοιμητήριον (koimētḗrion), from κοιμάω (koimáō, “I put to sleep”); compare cœmeterium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛm.ɪˌtɹi/, /ˈsɛm.əˌtɹi/
• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛm.ɪˌtɛɹ.i/, /ˈsɛm.əˌtɛɹ.i/
• IPA^(key): /ˈsem.ɘˌtʃɹi/, /ˈsem.ɘˌtiɘɹ.i/
• IPA^(key): [ˈsɪm.əˌtɛ.ɪ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

cemetery (plural cemeteries)

1. A place where the dead are buried; a graveyard or memorial park.
   • 1826, Mary Shelley, The Last Man, Pt II, Ch. 2:

     The plain around was interspersed with cemeteries, Turk, Greek, and Armenian, with their growth of cypress trees...

   • 1970, Kazimierz Godłowski, “The chronology of the Late Roman and early migration periods in Central Europe”, in Acta scientiarum litterarumque: Schedae archeologicae‎^[1], Nakładem Uniwersytetu Jagiellonśkiego, page 22:

     They were probably the work of individual craftsmen working to meet the chieftains' needs. Their place in the chronology of the big cemeteries is indicated by the less richly-decorated double-springed bronze brooches which are found here.

   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, p. 37:

     ...the cemetery—which people of shattering wit like Sampson never tired of calling ‘the dead centre of town’...

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:cemetery

Translations

a place where the dead are buried — see graveyard

See also

• catacomb
• churchyard
• charnel house
• columbarium
• crypt
• graveyard
• mausoleum
• morgue
• mortuary
• necropolis
• ossuary
• reliquary
• sepulchre
• tombstone
• tumulus