graveyard
Americannoun
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a burial ground, often associated with smaller rural churches, as distinct from a larger urban or public cemetery.
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Informal. graveyard shift.
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a place in which obsolete or derelict objects are kept.
an automobile graveyard.
noun
Etymology
Origin of graveyard
Compare meaning
How does graveyard compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A graveyard is an area where the dead are buried. When you walk through a historic graveyard, you'll see many beautiful old headstones and tombs. Other names for a graveyard are "cemetery" and "burial ground." It's slightly more common to use graveyard, a word that dates from about 1683, for the burial site near a church. If you work at a graveyard, you might care for the grave markers and plants. If, on the other hand, you work a graveyard shift, that simply means you work late at night.
Vocabulary lists containing graveyard
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In September, the New York Times reported that Disney paused production on its adaptation of Gaiman’s young adult novel “The Graveyard Book.”
From Salon • Jul. 3, 2025
Disney has paused production on its film adaptation of another Gaiman title, The Graveyard Book.
From BBC • Jan. 25, 2025
And a horse named Upset handed the immortal Man o’ War his only loss in 22 races, earning the country’s oldest racetrack its nickname: the Graveyard of Champions.
From New York Times • Jun. 7, 2024
She helped pinpoint the best location in Yellowstone National Park for the live-action “Lion King’s” Elephant Graveyard.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 15, 2022
And I was horrified that I’d hoped for her to come back through the Graveyard when she might have been safely at sea far from here.
From "Beyond the Bright Sea" by Lauren Wolk
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
