Meanings
tomb1
plural tombs
- A small building, or a room within one, for the remains of the dead, with walls, a roof, and (if it is to be used for more than one corpse) a door. It may be partly or wholly in the ground (except for its entrance) in a cemetery, or it may be inside a church proper or in its crypt. Single tombs may be permanently sealed; those for families (or other groups) have doors for access whenever needed.
Synonyms: burial chamber, sepulchre, vault
- broadlyA pit in which the dead body of a human being is deposited.
As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.
c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]Synonyms: grave
- One who keeps secrets.
I never told anyone about it. You're the first, except Ivan, of course—Ivan knows everything. He knew about it long before you. But Ivan's a tomb.
1912, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, The Brothers Karamazov, published 1880, Book III, chapter 4 - Death (literary)
I'll go to the tomb unrepentant.
present singular third person tombs · participle present tombing · participle past tombed · past tombed
- transitiveTo bury.
Tomb2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA small building, or a room within one, for the remains of the dead, with walls, a roof, and (if it is to be used for more than one corpse) a door. It may be partly or wholly in the ground (except for its entrance) in a cemetery, or it may be inside a church proper or in its crypt. Single tombs may be permanently sealed; those for families (or other groups) have doors for access whenever needed.
nounA pit in which the dead body of a human being is deposited.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna place for the burial of a corpse (especially beneath the ground and marked by a tombstone)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
tomb · noun, verb
- Middle Englishtomben
- Proto-Indo-European*tewh₂-“to swell”
- Ancient Greekτύμβος“a sepulchral mound, tomb, grave”
- Latintumba
- Old Frenchtombe
- Middle Englishtombe
- Englishtomb
From Middle English tombe, toumbe, borrowed from Old French tombe, from Latin tumba from Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “a sepulchral mound, tomb, grave”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”). Displaced native Old English þrūh. The verb is from Middle English tomben.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Tomb · proper noun
Perhaps a variant spelling of Tom, with excrescent -b.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek τύμβος
- τύμβος (túmbos)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
Arabic قَبْر, ضَرِيح
- قَبْر (qabr)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
- ضَرِيح (ḍarīḥ)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
Bengali কবর, সমাধি
- কবর (kobor)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
- সমাধি (śomadhi)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
Bulgarian гробни́ца
- гробни́ца (grobníca)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
Catalan tomba
- tombasmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Chinese Cantonese 墳墓 /坟墓
- 墳墓 /坟墓 (fan⁴ mou⁶)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
Chinese Mandarin 墳墓 /坟墓, 墓葬
- 墳墓 /坟墓 (fénmù)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
- 墓葬 (mùzàng)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
- 宅兆 (zháizhào)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
Czech hrobka
- hrobkasmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Danish grav, gravkammer
- gravsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- gravkammersmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Dutch tombe
- tombesmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Esperanto tombo
- tombosmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Estonian hauakamber
- hauakambersmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Finnish hauta, hautakappeli
- hautasmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- hautakappelismall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- hautakammiosmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
French tombeau, tombe
- tombeausmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- tombesmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
German Grabmal, Gruft
- Grabmalsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- Gruftsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Greek τάφος, ταφικό μνημείο
- τάφος (táfos)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
- ταφικό μνημείο (tafikó mnimeío)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
Hindi क़ब्र, समाधि
- क़ब्र (qabr)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
- समाधि (samādhi)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
Hungarian sír, síremlék
- sírsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- síremléksmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Irish tuama
- tuamasmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Italian tomba
- tombasmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Japanese 墓, 墳墓
- 墓 (haka)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
- 墳墓 (funbo)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
Korean 무덤, 분묘
- 무덤 (mudeom)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
- 분묘 (bunmyo)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
Latin tumba, conditorium
- tumbasmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- conditoriumsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- bustumsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Malay makam
- makamsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Māori toma, toma tūpāpaku
- tomasmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- toma tūpāpakusmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Norwegian Bokmål gravkammer
- gravkammersmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Polish grobowiec
- grobowiecsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Portuguese túmulo, tumba
- túmulosmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- tumbasmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- jazigosmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Romanian mormânt
- mormântsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Russian гробни́ца, склеп
- гробни́ца (grobníca)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
- склеп (sklep)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
Slovak hrobka
- hrobkasmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Spanish tumba, tumba
- tumbasmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- tumbapit in which the dead body of a human being is deposited
Thai ที่ฝังศพ
- ที่ฝังศพ (tîi-fǎng-sòp)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
Turkish mezar
- mezarsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Ukrainian гробни́ця
- гробни́ця (hrobnýcja)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
Urdu قَبْر, مَزار
- قَبْر (qabr)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
- مَزار (mazār)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
- مَدْفَن (madfan)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
- مَقْبَرَہ (maqbara)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
- مَرْقَد (marqad)small building or vault for the remains of the dead
Vietnamese mộ, lăng tẩm
- mộsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- lăng tẩmsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- phần mộsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Welsh bedd, beddrod
- beddsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
- beddrodsmall building or vault for the remains of the dead
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with tomb
Cite this entry
tomb. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tomb
“tomb.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tomb. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tomb,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tomb.
Source: tomb on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.