sepulchral

English

Etymology

From Latin sepulcralis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səˈpʌlkɹəl/, /səˈpʊlkɹəl/

Adjective

sepulchral (comparative more sepulchral, superlative most sepulchral)

1. Relating to a grave or to death; funereal.
2. Suggestive of a grave or of death; gloomy; solemn.
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 214:

     He alluded constantly to Europe, to the people I was supposed to know there - putting leading questions as to my acquaintances in the sepulchral city, and so on.

   • 1999, Cheryl Mendelson, Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House, New York: Scribner, →ISBN, page 6:

     Over and over I found myself visiting homes where the predominant feeling was sepulchral, dusty, and deserted […]

3. Having a hollow and deep sound.
   • 1995, Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: a Trilogy in Five Parts, →ISBN, page 367:

     'The Master of Krikkit,' said Slartibartfast again, and if his breathing had been sepulchral before, this time he sounded like someone in Hades with bronchitis.

Related terms

• sepulchre

Translations

suggestive of grave

• Bulgarian: гробовен (groboven)
• Catalan: sepulcral (ca)
• Finnish: hautamainen
• French: sépulcral (fr)
• German: Todes- (de), Grabes- (de), Toten- (de)
• Latin: sepulcralis
• Polish: cmentarny (pl), grobowy (pl), nagrobkowy (pl), sepulkralny (pl)
• Spanish: sepulcral (es)
• Swedish: gravlik

hollow and deep

• Bulgarian: гробовен (groboven)
• German: düster (de), Grabes- (de)
• Polish: grobowy (pl)
• Spanish: sepulcral (es)

See also

• Heroon