Meanings
- not comparableOf or relating to death or a funeral; funereal.
The leftwise action aims at what drifts out of the nunka domain of the nefarious. Similarly for mortuary arrangements, what is leftwise is more momentous than what is rightwise.
2006, Arne Røkkum, Nature, ritual, and society in Japan's Ryukyu Islands, page 151
plural mortuaries
- A place where dead bodies are stored prior to burial or cremation; broadly, synonym of funeral home.
It was anciently usual to bring the mortuary to church along with the corpse when it came to be buried
1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC - historicalA sort of ecclesiastical heriot, a customary gift claimed by, and due to, the minister of a parish on the death of a parishioner.
Synonyms: soulscot
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA sort of ecclesiastical heriot, a customary gift claimed by, and due to, the minister of a parish on the death of a parishioner.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna building (or room) where dead bodies are kept before burial or cremation
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinmortuus
- Medieval Latinmortuārium“receptacle for the dead; mortuary”
- Anglo-Normanmortuarie“gift to a parish priest from a deceased parishioner”
- Middle Englishmortuary
- Englishmortuary
From Middle English mortuary, from Anglo-Norman mortuarie (“gift to a parish priest from a deceased parishioner”), from Medieval Latin mortuārium (“receptacle for the dead; mortuary”), neuter form of mortuārius (“of or pertaining to the dead”), from Latin mortuus, perfect passive participle of morior (“to die”).
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Medieval Latin
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
mortuary. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mortuary
“mortuary.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mortuary. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mortuary,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mortuary.
Source: mortuary on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.