Meanings
plural cemeteries · alternative cœmeterium · alternative cœmetery · alternative cemetary · alternative cementery
- A place where the dead are buried; a graveyard or memorial park.
The plain around was interspersed with cemeteries, Turk, Greek, and Armenian, with their growth of cypress trees...
1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter II, in The Last Man. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC2 more examples
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.
1970, Kazimierz Godłowski, “The chronology of the Late Roman and early migration periods in Central Europe”, in Acta scientiarum litterarumque: Schedae archeologicae, Nakładem Uniwersytetu Jagiellonśkiego, page 22[…] the cemetery – which people of shattering wit like Sampson never tired of calling ‘the dead centre of town’ […]
1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section III, page 26Synonyms: boneyard, Boot Hill, burial ground, camposanto, churchyard, crypt, God's acre, gravestead
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA place where the dead are buried; a graveyard or memorial park.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekκοιμητήριον
- Late Latincoemētērium
- Medieval Latincimitērium
- Old Frenchcimitiere
- Middle Englishcimiterie
- Englishcemetery
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. Displaced Middle English charnel (“mass grave, cemetery”) and Old English līctūn (“cemetery”).
More words from Middle English, Old French, Medieval Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
cemetery. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cemetery
“cemetery.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cemetery. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cemetery,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cemetery.
Source: cemetery on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.