tombstone

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UK/ˈtuːmstəʊn/US/ˈtuːmstoʊn/

noun

A grave marker, a stone slab or similar object marking a person's grave.

Less commonScrabble 13

Meanings

tombstone1

nountombstone (plural tombstones)

plural tombstones · alternative archaic tomb-stone

  1. A grave marker, a stone slab or similar object marking a person's grave.

    True, there's no harm in crying for one's husband, and the tombstone, though plain, was a solid piece of work, and on summer's days when the widow brought her boys to stand there one felt kindly towards her.

    1922, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in Jacob's Room

    Synonyms: headstone, gravestone, grave marker

  2. mathematicsThe symbol "∎" marking the end of a proof.

    Synonyms: halmos

  3. Microsoft WindowscomputingA marker that takes the place of deleted data, allowing for replication of the deletion across servers etc.

    If you attempt to restore a backup that is older than the tombstone lifetime, it may introduce objects that were deleted […]

    2008, Laura E. Hunter, Robbie Allen, Active Directory Cookbook, page 739
  4. computingA crashdump.

    This actually results in a crash dump, which is written to the log and to a tombstone file.

    2014, Joshua J. Drake, Zach Lanier, Collin Mulliner, Android Hacker's Handbook, page 186
  5. cardiologyAn unusual morphological feature on an electrocardiogram indicative of acute myocardial infarction, characterized by a massive ST elevation.
  6. journalismA printed advertisement in a newspaper or magazine, typically having unadorned centered text in black and white, enclosed in a simple box.
  7. artA museum plaque or caption displaying information about a work of art or exhibited object.

    The last bit of information on each tombstone is an accession number—an alphanumeric block that is assigned when an object is added (accessioned) to the museums’ collections.

    2015, Harvard Art Museum, Writing on the Wall
  8. archaicslangA pawnbroker's ticket.

    "[…] Pity we're not both same size, or I'd steal one of your shirts, for I buried the last of mine yesterday, and here's the tombstone," producing a pawnbroker's duplicate.

    1862, W. H. Watts, My Private Note-Book; or, Recollections of an old reporter, page 123
verbtombstone (third-person singular simple present tombstones, present participle tombstoning, simple past and past participle tombstoned)

present singular third person tombstones · participle present tombstoning · participle past tombstoned · past tombstoned · alternative archaic tomb-stone

  1. UKintransitiveTo take part in tombstoning: to jump into the sea, etc. from a cliff or other high point so as to enter the water vertically straight.
  2. hobbiesFor a surfboard to stand upright half-submerged in the water (like a tombstone, above) because the surfer is underwater with his or her legrope pulled tight. Often this indicates a surfer in difficulty, either held down by the power of a wave or unconscious and unable to get to the surface.

    Before the contest even started, Slater went down hard in a warmup session. He took a two-wave hold-down in the semifinals, his board tombstoning eerily for all to see, […]

    2005, Bruce Jenkins, Surfer magazine, (referring to Kelly Slater) http://surfermag.com/features/events/mav05/
  3. transitiveMicrosoft WindowscomputingTo replace (an object or data) with a tombstone marker.

    One of the many improvements in Windows 2000 WINS (and NT4 SP4) is the capability to selectively delete or tombstone records.

    2000, William Boswell, Inside Windows 2000 Server, page 211

Tombstone2

proper noun

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA grave marker, a stone slab or similar object marking a person's grave.

nounThe symbol "∎" marking the end of a proof.

Similar

More synonyms by meaning

nouna stone that is used to mark a grave

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Translations

Afrikaans grafsteen
  • grafsteenstone on grave
Basque hilarri
  • hilarristone on grave
Bengali সমাধিপ্রস্তর
  • সমাধিপ্রস্তর (śomadhiprostor)stone on grave
Bulgarian надгро́бен па́метник, надгро́бна пло́ча
  • надгро́бен па́метник (nadgróben pámetnik)stone on grave
  • надгро́бна пло́ча (nadgróbna plóča)stone on grave
Catalan làpida
  • làpidastone on grave
Chinese Mandarin 墓碑, 墓石
  • 墓碑 (mùbēi)stone on grave
  • 墓石 (mùshí)stone on grave
Czech náhrobek, náhrobní kámen
  • náhrobekstone on grave
  • náhrobní kámenstone on grave
Danish gravsten
  • gravstenstone on grave
Dutch grafsteen, zerk
  • grafsteenstone on grave
  • zerkstone on grave
  • gedenktekenstone on grave
Esperanto tomboŝtono
  • tomboŝtonostone on grave
Finnish hautakivi
  • hautakivistone on grave
French pierre tombale
  • pierre tombalestone on grave
German Grabstein, Grabmal
  • Grabsteinstone on grave
  • Grabmalstone on grave
  • Leichensteinstone on grave
Greek ταφόπλακα, ταφόπετρα
  • ταφόπλακα (tafóplaka)stone on grave
  • ταφόπετρα (tafópetra)stone on grave
Hebrew מַצֵּבָה
  • מַצֵּבָה (matsevá)stone on grave
Hungarian sírkő
  • sírkőstone on grave
Indonesian batu nisan
  • batu nisanstone on grave
Irish leac uaighe, leac thuama
  • leac uaighestone on grave
  • leac thuamastone on grave
Italian lapide, pietra tombale
  • lapidestone on grave
  • pietra tombalestone on grave
Japanese 墓碑, 墓石
  • 墓碑 (bohi)stone on grave
  • 墓石 (boseki)stone on grave
Korean 묘석
  • 묘석 (myoseok)stone on grave
Latin lapillus, lapis
  • lapillusstone on grave
  • lapisstone on grave
Latvian kapakmens
  • kapakmensstone on grave
Lithuanian antkapis
  • antkapisstone on grave
Norwegian Bokmål gravstein
  • gravsteinstone on grave
Polish nagrobek
  • nagrobekstone on grave
Portuguese lápide, campa
  • lápidestone on grave
  • campastone on grave
Romanian piatră de mormânt, piatră funerară
  • piatră de mormântstone on grave
  • piatră funerarăstone on grave
  • lapidăstone on grave
Russian надгро́бие, надгро́бная плита́
  • надгро́бие (nadgróbije)stone on grave
  • надгро́бная плита́ (nadgróbnaja plitá)stone on grave
  • моги́льная плита́ (mogílʹnaja plitá)stone on grave
  • моги́льный ка́мень (mogílʹnyj kámenʹ)stone on grave
Scottish Gaelic leac, clach-chinn
  • leacstone on grave
  • clach-chinnstone on grave
Slovak náhrobok, náhrobný kameň
  • náhrobokstone on grave
  • náhrobný kameňstone on grave
Spanish lápida
  • lápidastone on grave
Swedish gravsten
  • gravstenstone on grave
Tagalog lapida
  • lapidastone on grave
Thai ป้ายสุสาน
  • ป้ายสุสานstone on grave
Turkish mezar taşı
  • mezar taşıstone on grave
Ukrainian надгро́бок, моги́льна плита́
  • надгро́бок (nadhróbok)stone on grave
  • моги́льна плита́ (mohýlʹna plytá)stone on grave
  • надгро́бний ка́мінь (nadhróbnyj káminʹ)stone on grave
Vietnamese bia mộ, mộ chí
  • bia mộstone on grave
  • mộ chístone on grave
Welsh carreg fedd
  • carreg feddstone on grave
Yiddish מצבֿה
  • מצבֿה (matseyve)stone on grave
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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