mausoleum

[ maw-suh-lee-uhm, -zuh- ]

noun

, plural mau·so·le·ums, mau·so·le·a [maw-s, uh, -, lee, -, uh, -z, uh, -].

1. a stately and magnificent tomb.
2. a burial place for the bodies or remains of many individuals, often of a single family, usually in the form of a small building.
3. a large, gloomy, depressing building, room, or the like.
4. (initial capital letter) the tomb erected at Halicarnassus in Asia Minor in 350? b.c.

mausoleum

/ ˌmɔːsəˈlɪəm /

noun

1. a large stately tomb

mausoleum

1. A tomb, or a building containing tombs. Mausoleums are often richly decorated. The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum.

Derived Forms

• ˌmausoˈlean, adjective

Other Words From

• mauso·lean adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of mausoleum¹

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin < Greek Mausoleîon the tomb of Mausolus, king of Caria

Word History and Origins

Origin of mausoleum¹

C16: via Latin from Greek mausōleion, the tomb of Mausolus, king of Caria; built at Halicarnassus in the 4th century bc

Example Sentences

Baker joins Gaullist resistor Felix Eboué and famed writer Alexandre Dumas in the famed mausoleum.

From Essence.com

We arrived at the cemetery, and five minutes before the service was to start, an announcement was made that it would be held inside the mausoleum.

From Washington Post

My parents are building a mausoleum for themselves in my childhood home.

From The Daily Beast

During the restoration process, volunteers discovered plaques documenting a list of the dead contained within the mausoleum.

From The Daily Beast

Eagle Hill Cemetery: A cemetery in Collinsport, Maine (see also: Collinsport), which contains the Collins Family Mausoleum.

From The Daily Beast

Alone with the “mausoleum of sounds” that is her memory she must record her past “before it becomes tinnitus and is lost.”

From The Daily Beast

She has written about the Park Avenue she grew up on in the '70s: “Too mineral, too grey, too mausoleum-like.”

From The Daily Beast

But within a year of her marriage the Princess died in child-birth, and was buried in a mausoleum within the park.

From Project Gutenberg

A simple mausoleum, about thirty feet square, and a few small private monuments, were all that was to be seen.

From Project Gutenberg

This probably explains its vicinity to the stately mausoleum of Ccilia Metella.

From Project Gutenberg

The mausoleum of the Emperor Humaione, very much in the same style as the mosque, was commenced by this monarch himself.

From Project Gutenberg

At the end of the garden, opposite the mausoleum, stands a small palace, principally belonging to the King of Lucknau.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• burial
• cemetery
• coffin
• monument
• vault