cenotaph

C3E1N1O1T1A1P3H4
UK/ˈsɛn.əˌtɑːf/UK/ˈsɛn.əˌtæf/

noun

A monument, generally in the form of an empty tomb, erected to honour the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere, especially members of the armed forces who died in battle.

“A cenotaph was erected for him in Gaul, while his body was taken to Rome and inclosed in a magnificent tomb.”

Similar
empty tomb
OriginFrench cénotaphe ← Ancient Greek κενός →
UncommonScrabble 15
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Meanings

cenotaph1

nouncenotaph (plural cenotaphs)

plural cenotaphs

  1. A monument, generally in the form of an empty tomb, erected to honour the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere, especially members of the armed forces who died in battle.

    A cenotaph was erected for him in Gaul, while his body was taken to Rome and inclosed in a magnificent tomb.

    5 more examples

    […] tombs and cenotaphs were strewed thick around adorned by every renewing vegetation; […]

    1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in The Last Man. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC

    I am the daughter of Earth and Water, And the nursling of the Sky; I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die. For after the rain when with never a stain The pavilion of Heaven is bare, And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams Build up the blue dome of air, I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, And out of the caverns of rain, Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I arise and unbuild it again.

    1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Cloud

    But age is heart-wearied and tempest-torn: it is the crumbling cenotaph of fear and hope!

    1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Age and Youth”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 7

    A tomb from which the body is absent, living elsewhere. The grave whose headstone bore the famous inscription, Here lies me two children dear One in ould Ireland, t'other one here. was a cenotaph, so far as regarded the "One in ould Ireland".

    1967, Ambrose Bierce, “cenotaph”, in Ernest Jerome Hopkins, editor, The Enlarged Devil’s Dictionary […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, →OCLC, page 37

    On Remembrance Sunday (November 14), [...]. A special service was held at Ayr station that afternoon, to allow people to pay their respects after attending the Ayr cenotaph that morning.

    2021 December 1, “Network News: Passengers observe two-minute silence”, in RAIL, number 945, page 11

Cenotaph2

proper nounthe Cenotaph
  1. UKA war memorial in Whitehall, London, England.

    Top Gear bosses have defended the show after it was criticised for filming scenes near the Cenotaph in central London.

    2016 March 14, “Top Gear bosses defend filming near Cenotaph memorial”, in The Guardian, sourced from Press Association, →ISSN
    1 more example

    Never has the Cenotaph, in its 103 years of standing sentry on Whitehall, been “defended” on Armistice Day by a Port Vale fan supping a can of Stella Artois.

    2023 November 11, Mark Townsend, “Far-right ‘defends’ the Cenotaph to the echo of home secretary’s words”, in The Observer, →ISSN

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna monument built to honor people whose remains are interred elsewhere or whose remains cannot be recovered

Similar
empty tomb
Broader
memorialmonument

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekκενός“empty”
  2. Frenchcénotaphe
  3. Englishcenotaph

From French cénotaphe, from Ancient Greek κενός (kenós, “empty”) + τάφος (táphos, “tomb”). By surface analysis ceno- + -taph.

More words from French, Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek κενοτάφιον
  • κενοτάφιον (kenotáphion)monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Arabic الْقُبْر الْأُجُوف
  • الْقُبْر الْأُجُوف (al-qubr al-ʔujūf)monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Basque zenotafio
  • zenotafiomonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Bulgarian кенота́ф
  • кенота́ф (kenotáf)monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Catalan cenotafi
  • cenotafimonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Chinese Mandarin 衣冠墓, 衣冠冢
  • 衣冠墓 (yīguānmù)monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
  • 衣冠冢 (yīguānzhǒng)monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Czech kenotaf
  • kenotafmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Danish kenotaf
  • kenotafmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Dutch cenotaaf
  • cenotaafmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Esperanto cenotafo
  • cenotafomonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Estonian mälestusmonument, kenotaaf
  • mälestusmonumentmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
  • kenotaafmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Finnish muistohauta, kenotafi
  • muistohautamonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
  • kenotafimonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
French cénotaphe
  • cénotaphemonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
German Ehrenmal, Kenotaph
  • Ehrenmalmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
  • Kenotaphmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
  • Scheingrabmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Greek κενοτάφιο
  • κενοτάφιο (kenotáfio)monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Hebrew אנדרטה
  • אנדרטה (andárta)monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Hungarian kenotáfium
  • kenotáfiummonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Icelandic minningargröf, minnisvarði
  • minningargröfmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
  • minnisvarðimonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Italian cenotafio
  • cenotafiomonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Japanese 慰霊碑
  • 慰霊碑 (ireihi)monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Korean 위령비
  • 위령비 (wiryeongbi)monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Latin cenotaphium
  • cenotaphiummonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Latvian kenotāfs, piemeniklis
  • kenotāfsmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
  • piemeniklismonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Lithuanian kenotafas
  • kenotafasmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Norwegian Bokmål kenotaf
  • kenotafmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Polish cenotaf
  • cenotafmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Portuguese cenotáfio
  • cenotáfiomonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Romanian cenotaf
  • cenotafmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Russian кенота́ф
  • кенота́ф (kenotáf)monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Slovak kenotaf
  • kenotafmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Spanish cenotafio
  • cenotafiomonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Swedish kenotaf, skengrav
  • kenotafmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
  • skengravmonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Tamil வெறுங்கல்லறை
  • வெறுங்கல்லறை (veṟuṅkallaṟai)monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Ukrainian кенота́ф
  • кенота́ф (kenotáf)monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Vietnamese mộ gió
  • mộ giómonument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
Cite this entry
APA

cenotaph. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cenotaph

MLA

“cenotaph.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cenotaph. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cenotaph,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cenotaph.

Source: cenotaph on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.