Meanings
noungraveyard (plural graveyards)
plural graveyards
- A tract of land in which the dead are buried.
Synonyms: boneyard, Boot Hill, burial ground, camposanto, cemetery, churchyard, crypt, God's acre
- broadlyfigurativelyA final storage place for collections of things that are no longer useful or useable.
They're all out on this southbound odyssey / And the train pulls out of Kankakee / Rolls past the houses, farms, and fields / Passing towns that have no name / And freight yards full of old black men / And the graveyards of rusted automobiles.
1971, Steve Goodman, “City of New Orleans”, in Steve Goodman- broadlyfigurativelycollectible card gamesThe discard pile, in some trading card games.
Certain cards place other cards here because such cards might have abilities deemed too strong if they sent them to the graveyard instead.
2006, John Kaufeld, Jeremy Smith, Trading Card Games For Dummies, →ISBN, page 492 more examples
If you want to be tricky, though, Rapid Decay can be a flying elbow drop out of nowhere for a surprise win against graveyard manipulation decks; they will always see a Beetles coming, remember.
2006, Michael J. Flores, Deckade: 10 Years of Decks, Thoughts, and Theory!, →ISBN, page 235When a player does discard or use a card or when a creature also died or a spell gets destroyed, that card gets placed into the player's graveyard.
2015, Kinetik Gaming, Magic the Gathering Game Guide (Unofficial), →ISBN - broadlyfigurativelyhobbiesA team where players are sent when they are not useful, or a team where players become useless if sent there.
- attributiveA period very early in the morning in which there is very little activity.
graveyard shift, graveyard slot, graveyard watch
1 more example
Her husband, of course, came dressed as Herman Melville.) She's a veteran of these marathons, and warned me about the forthcoming graveyard stretch—when Moby-Dick melds with the altered brain chemistry of sleep deprivation.
2024 January 14, Luke Winkie, “A Whale of a Time”, in Slate, New York, N.Y.: The Slate Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Jan 2024
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA tract of land in which the dead are buried.
nounSynonym of suicide (“beverage combining all available flavors at a soda fountain”).
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From grave + yard. Compare West Frisian begraafplak (“graveyard”), Dutch begraafplaats (“graveyard”), Norwegian gravplass (“graveyard”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans begraafplek, begraafplaas
- begraafplektract of land in which the dead are buried
- begraafplaastract of land in which the dead are buried
Ancient Greek κοιμητήριον
- κοιμητήριον (koimētḗrion)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Arabic مَقْبَرَة, مَقْبُرَة
- مَقْبَرَة (maqbara)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- مَقْبُرَة (maqbura)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- مَدْفِن (madfin)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- جَبّانة (jabbāna)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- تُرْبَة (turba)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Basque hilerri, kanposantu
- hilerritract of land in which the dead are buried
- kanposantutract of land in which the dead are buried
Bengali কারবালা
- কারবালা (karbala)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Bulgarian гро́бище
- гро́бище (gróbište)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Catalan cementiri, camp sant
- cementiritract of land in which the dead are buried
- camp santtract of land in which the dead are buried
- tenca d'horatract of land in which the dead are buried
Chinese Cantonese 墳場 /坟场, 公墓
- 墳場 /坟场 (fan⁴ coeng⁴)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- 公墓 (gung¹ mou⁶)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- 墓地 (mou⁶ dei⁶)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Chinese Mandarin 公墓 墓地, 墳地 /坟地
- 公墓 墓地 (gōngmù)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- 墳地 /坟地 (féndì)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Czech hřbitov, pohřebiště
- hřbitovtract of land in which the dead are buried
- pohřebištětract of land in which the dead are buried
- krchovtract of land in which the dead are buried
Danish kirkegård, gravplads
- kirkegårdtract of land in which the dead are buried
- gravpladstract of land in which the dead are buried
- kirkegårdfinal storage place for collections of things no longer used
Dutch kerkhof, begraafplaats
- kerkhoftract of land in which the dead are buried
- begraafplaatstract of land in which the dead are buried
- knekelveldtract of land in which the dead are buried
- kerkhoffinal storage place for collections of things no longer used
Esperanto tombejo, enterigejo
- tombejotract of land in which the dead are buried
- enterigejotract of land in which the dead are buried
Estonian surnuaed, kalmistu
- surnuaedtract of land in which the dead are buried
- kalmistutract of land in which the dead are buried
Finnish hautausmaa, hautuumaa
- hautausmaatract of land in which the dead are buried
- hautuumaatract of land in which the dead are buried
- kalmistotract of land in which the dead are buried
- hautausmaafinal storage place for collections of things no longer used
French cimetière
- cimetièretract of land in which the dead are buried
German Friedhof, Kirchhof
- Friedhoftract of land in which the dead are buried
- Kirchhoftract of land in which the dead are buried
- Begräbnisplatztract of land in which the dead are buried
- Gottesackertract of land in which the dead are buried
- Leichenhoftract of land in which the dead are buried
Greek κοιμητήριο, νεκροταφείο
- κοιμητήριο (koimitírio)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- νεκροταφείο (nekrotafeío)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- κοιμητήρι (koimitíri)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- νεκροταφείο (nekrotafeío)final storage place for collections of things no longer used
Hebrew בֵּית קְבָרוֹת, בֵּית עוֹלָם
- בֵּית קְבָרוֹת (béit k'varót)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- בֵּית עוֹלָם (béit olám)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Hindi क़ब्रिस्तान, गोरिस्तान
- क़ब्रिस्तान (qabristān)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- गोरिस्तान (goristān)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- समाधिक्षेत्र (samādhikṣetra)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Hungarian temető, sírkert
- temetőtract of land in which the dead are buried
- sírkerttract of land in which the dead are buried
Icelandic kirkjugarður, grafreitur
- kirkjugarðurtract of land in which the dead are buried
- grafreiturtract of land in which the dead are buried
Indonesian pusara, pekuburan
- pusaratract of land in which the dead are buried
- pekuburantract of land in which the dead are buried
- kuburantract of land in which the dead are buried
- makamtract of land in which the dead are buried
- pemakamantract of land in which the dead are buried
Irish reilig, cill
- reiligtract of land in which the dead are buried
- cilltract of land in which the dead are buried
Italian cimitero, camposanto
- cimiterotract of land in which the dead are buried
- camposantotract of land in which the dead are buried
- sepolcretotract of land in which the dead are buried
Japanese 墓, 墓地
- 墓 (haka)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- 墓地 (bochi)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- 霊園 (reien)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- 墓場 (hakaba)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- 化野 (adashino)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- 墓園 (boen)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Korean 묘지, 묘원
- 묘지 (myoji)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- 묘원 (myowon)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Latin coemeterium, sepulcrētum
- coemeteriumtract of land in which the dead are buried
- sepulcrētumtract of land in which the dead are buried
Latvian kapsēta, kapi
- kapsētatract of land in which the dead are buried
- kapitract of land in which the dead are buried
Lithuanian kapinės
- kapinėstract of land in which the dead are buried
Malay pekuburan
- pekuburantract of land in which the dead are buried
Māori urupā, whakauenuku
- urupātract of land in which the dead are buried
- whakauenukutract of land in which the dead are buried
Norwegian Bokmål kirkegård, gravlund
- kirkegårdtract of land in which the dead are buried
- gravlundtract of land in which the dead are buried
- leggplasstract of land in which the dead are buried
- gravplasstract of land in which the dead are buried
Polish cmentarz, cmentarz
- cmentarztract of land in which the dead are buried
- cmentarzfinal storage place for collections of things no longer used
Portuguese cemitério
- cemitériotract of land in which the dead are buried
Punjabi ਕਬਰਸਤਾਨ
- ਕਬਰਸਤਾਨ (kabrasatān)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Romanian cimitir, țintirim
- cimitirtract of land in which the dead are buried
- țintirimtract of land in which the dead are buried
Russian кла́дбище, пого́ст
- кла́дбище (kládbišče)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- пого́ст (pogóst)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- кирку́т (kirkút)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- кла́дбище (kládbišče)final storage place for collections of things no longer used
Scottish Gaelic cladh
- cladhtract of land in which the dead are buried
Slovak cintorín
- cintoríntract of land in which the dead are buried
Spanish cementerio, campo santo
- cementeriotract of land in which the dead are buried
- campo santotract of land in which the dead are buried
- camposantotract of land in which the dead are buried
- panteóntract of land in which the dead are buried
- cementeriofinal storage place for collections of things no longer used
Swahili makaburi
- makaburitract of land in which the dead are buried
Swedish begravningsplats, kyrkogård
- begravningsplatstract of land in which the dead are buried
- kyrkogårdtract of land in which the dead are buried
Tagalog sementeryo
- sementeryotract of land in which the dead are buried
Tamil இடுகாடு
- இடுகாடு (iṭukāṭu)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Thai ป่าช้า, สุสาน
- ป่าช้า (bpàa-cháa)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- สุสาน (sù-sǎan)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- ที่ฝังศพ (tîi-fǎng-sòp)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Turkish mezarlık, kabristan
- mezarlıktract of land in which the dead are buried
- kabristantract of land in which the dead are buried
- mezaristantract of land in which the dead are buried
- gömütlüktract of land in which the dead are buried
- tahtalıköytract of land in which the dead are buried
Ukrainian цви́нтар, кладо́вище
- цви́нтар (cvýntar)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- кладо́вище (kladóvyšče)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- кла́довище (kládovyšče)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- кладови́сько (kladovýsʹko)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- гробки́ (hrobký)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- гробови́ще (hrobovýšče)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- могилки́ (mohylký)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- кірку́т (kirkút)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Urdu قَبْرِسْتان, گورِسْتان
- قَبْرِسْتان (qabristān)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- گورِسْتان (goristān)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Vietnamese nghĩa trang, nghĩa địa
- nghĩa trangtract of land in which the dead are buried
- nghĩa địatract of land in which the dead are buried
- bãi tha matract of land in which the dead are buried
Welsh claddfa, mynwent
- claddfatract of land in which the dead are buried
- mynwenttract of land in which the dead are buried
- corfflantract of land in which the dead are buried
Yiddish בית־עולם, קבֿרות
- בית־עולם (beys-oylem)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- קבֿרות (kvores)tract of land in which the dead are buried
- צווינטער (tsvinter)tract of land in which the dead are buried
Cite this entry
APA
graveyard. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/graveyard
MLA
“graveyard.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/graveyard. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “graveyard,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/graveyard.
Source: graveyard on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.