sepulcher

[ sep-uhl-ker ]
See synonyms for: sepulchersepulcheredsepulchering on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a tomb, grave, or burial place.

  2. Also called Easter sepulcher. Ecclesiastical.

    • a cavity in a mensa for containing relics of martyrs.

    • a structure or a recess in some old churches in which the Eucharist was deposited with due ceremonies on Good Friday and taken out at Easter in commemoration of Christ's entombment and Resurrection.

verb (used with object)
  1. to place in a sepulcher; bury.

Origin of sepulcher

1
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English sepulcre, from Old French, from Latin sepulcrum, equivalent to sepul- (variant stem of sepelīre “to bury”) + -crum noun suffix of place
  • Also especially British, sep·ul·chre .

Other words for sepulcher

Other words from sepulcher

  • un·sep·ul·cher, verb (used with object)

Words Nearby sepulcher

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use sepulcher in a sentence

  • Others ran to the sepulcher and found it even as the women had said.

    Our Calendar | George Nichols Packer
  • How Horace Endicott had raved over this whited sepulcher five years ago, believed in her, sworn by her virtue and truth!

    The Art of Disappearing | John Talbot Smith