bury
verb (used with object)
to put in the ground and cover with earth.
bury
American
[ber-ee]
/ ˈbɛr i /
verb (used with object)
-
buries,
present (3rd person singular)
-
buried,
past participle, past
-
burying
present participle
-
to put in the ground and cover with earth.
The pirates buried the chest on the island.
-
to put (a corpse) in the ground or a vault, or into the sea, often with ceremony.
They buried the sailor with full military honors.
-
to plunge in deeply; cause to sink in.
to bury an arrow in a target.
-
to cover in order to conceal from sight.
She buried the card in the deck.
- Antonyms:
- uncover
-
to immerse (oneself).
He buried himself in his work.
-
to put out of one's mind.
to bury an insult.
-
to consign to obscurity; cause to appear insignificant by assigning to an unimportant location, position, etc..
Her name was buried in small print at the end of the book.
noun
-
buries
plural
idioms
-
bury the hatchet, to become reconciled or reunited.
-
bury one's head in the sand, to avoid reality; ignore the facts of a situation.
You cannot continue to bury your head in the sand—you must learn to face facts.
bury
1
British
/ ˈbɛrɪ /
verb
-
to place (a corpse) in a grave, usually with funeral rites; inter
-
to place in the earth and cover with soil
-
to lose through death
-
to cover from sight; hide
-
to embed; sink
to bury a nail in plaster
-
to occupy (oneself) with deep concentration; engross
to be buried in a book
-
to dismiss from the mind; abandon
to bury old hatreds
-
to cease hostilities and become reconciled
-
to refuse to face a problem
Bury
2
British
/ ˈbɛrɪ /
noun
-
a town in NW England, in Bury unitary authority, Greater Manchester: an early textile centre. Pop: 60 178 (2001)
-
a unitary authority in NW England, in Greater Manchester. Pop: 181 900 (2003 est). Area: 99 sq km (38 sq miles)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
burysimple
-
buriessimple
-
have buriedperfect
-
has buriedperfect
-
am buryingprogressive
-
are buryingprogressive
-
is buryingprogressive
-
have been buryingperfect progressive
-
has been buryingperfect progressive
Past
-
buriedsimple
-
had buriedperfect
-
was buryingprogressive
-
were buryingprogressive
-
had been buryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bury
First recorded before 1000; Middle English berien, buryen, Old English byrgan “to bury, conceal”; akin to Old English beorgan “to hide, protect, preserve”; cognate with Dutch, German bergen, Gothic bairgan, Old Norse bjarga
Explanation
When you dig a hole in the ground, put an object in the hole, and cover it up with dirt, you bury it. Your dog might prefer spending the majority of his time digging holes to bury his toy collection. You can bury something to hide it, or it can be part of a funeral ritual to bury a person who's died. You could also predict that the coming snow will bury the city, or you might bury your face in your hands if you were feeling dejected. The root of bury is the Proto-Indo-European word bhergh, "to protect or preserve." If you bury your money in the yard, maybe you're trying to protect it from thieves.
Vocabulary lists containing bury
"Eleven"
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List 5
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"Mysteries of the Ancient Past"
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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.
See Examples For:
The effect is especially disconcerting as this father and daughter navigate glad-handers and former Nazi collaborators in West Germany who are anxious to bury the past.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
Realizing in real-time that they had walked straight into a trap, the senator’s team tried to bury the evidence and move on before anyone noticed.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2026
I also thought about how selfish I was being, but I knew that if it never happened, I would bury my dream and work hard at whatever job necessary to support my family.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
Many have never been able to bury a loved one, but some families choose to leave the remains - once found - at a repository at the 9/11 memorial site in New York.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
Once I’m inside the apartment, I fall over onto the couch and bury my head in the pillows.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
But that isn’t all that surprising at this early stage in an investigation, Bury said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
A genetic study of 132 people buried in a large megalithic tomb near Bury, about 50 kilometers north of Paris, has uncovered evidence of a dramatic population collapse and replacement during the Stone Age.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
The buses operate as part of the Bee Network alongside trams and bicycles, which helps connect Manchester city centre with the areas around it like Salford, Bury and Rochdale.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
He usually takes Max for a walk in the morning before work and again in the evening, making the most of the many parks and forests in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, where he lives.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
“Keep this. Bury it with her when you take her back home.”
From "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys
At every turn, Schoenbrun buries the movie alive, heaping layer upon layer of meta subtext onto it.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
The commission is a German non-profit organisation that searches, recovers and buries the war dead on behalf of the German government.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Dozens of crumbling buildings in Venezuela's decimated earthquake zone bear a spray-painted letter 'D' -- a sign that buries any hope of finding life beneath the rubble.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Mr. Yasunaga, however, forms his creations out of glaze and other ornaments, then buries the objects in sand or unrefined clay to fire them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
“But this one, Aragog, the first one Hagrid ever got, it died last night. He’s devastated. He wants company while he buries it and I said I’d go.”
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
“Childhood Marissa spent recesses in the library buried in books about ancient Egypt,” Roy said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
Because it has been around so long, security experts say that it is sometimes buried so deeply in corporate networks that some organizations don’t even realize they are using it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
Simmering and subtly cumulative, the movie is full of overwhelming anguish, buried beneath a masculine stoicism forever threatening to come undone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
This technique can reveal buried faults, craters, and other formations that cannot be observed directly.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 21, 2026
He wandered over to his sandbox, sat down on the triangular corner seat, and reached for a big spoon that was partly buried in the sand and dirt.
From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry
Because the decomposition of organic matter can consume oxygen, burying more carbon helped favor the continued buildup of oxygen in the atmosphere.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
“We’re challenging the buttoned-up paradigm of burying the dead. We’re keeping our dead alive through art, through talking about them always.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Why does tennis keep burying its best product?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
"I am burying AI at the moment, which is a lovely feeling."
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
It was as if he had given up; he had accepted the radioactive dirt and it had begun its job, long ago, of burying him.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
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