Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Jump To:
  • bury
    bury
    verb (used with object)
    to put in the ground and cover with earth.
  • Bury
    Bury
    noun
    a town in NW England, in Bury unitary authority, Greater Manchester: an early textile centre. Pop: 60 178 (2001)
Synonyms

bury

American  
[ber-ee] / ˈbɛr i /

verb (used with object)

buries, present (3rd person singular) buried, past participle, past burying present participle
  1. to put in the ground and cover with earth.

    The pirates buried the chest on the island.

  2. 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.

    Synonyms:
    inhume, entomb, inter
    Antonyms:
    exhume, disinter
  3. to plunge in deeply; cause to sink in.

    to bury an arrow in a target.

  4. to cover in order to conceal from sight.

    She buried the card in the deck.

    Synonyms:
    secrete, hide
    Antonyms:
    uncover
  5. to immerse (oneself).

    He buried himself in his work.

  6. to put out of one's mind.

    to bury an insult.

  7. 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
  1. Nautical. housing.

idioms

  1. bury the hatchet, to become reconciled or reunited.

  2. 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

  1. to place (a corpse) in a grave, usually with funeral rites; inter

  2. to place in the earth and cover with soil

  3. to lose through death

  4. to cover from sight; hide

  5. to embed; sink

    to bury a nail in plaster

  6. to occupy (oneself) with deep concentration; engross

    to be buried in a book

  7. to dismiss from the mind; abandon

    to bury old hatreds

  8. to cease hostilities and become reconciled

  9. to refuse to face a problem

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Bury 2 British  
/ ˈbɛrɪ /

noun

  1. a town in NW England, in Bury unitary authority, Greater Manchester: an early textile centre. Pop: 60 178 (2001)

  2. a unitary authority in NW England, in Greater Manchester. Pop: 181 900 (2003 est). Area: 99 sq km (38 sq miles)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

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.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing bury

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:

Together, these processes erase or bury many ancient impact craters.

From Science Daily Jul. 18, 2026

Deaths from Venezuela's devastating twin earthquakes rose to at least 3,342 on Sunday as officials began to bury dozens of bodies left unidentified 11 days after the disaster.

From Barron's Jul. 5, 2026

The other way—as chosen by this court—is to close those sessions and bury the audio for months.

From Slate Jul. 2, 2026

Significant numbers of sea cucumbers - which can bury themselves under the sand to escape fishing gear - have been observed in the recovery zone.

From BBC Jun. 22, 2026

Then you bury the base in dirt so it’s nice and sturdy.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

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

Jamie Yetter was staying at the Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa with her fiancé, Chris Bury, and her teenage daughter when they witnessed the attack Friday night, she told NBC Los Angeles.

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 30, 2026

Prosecutor John Hallissey told the court Hussain, of Greengate Close, Bury, was the "leader" of the UK operation.

From BBC Jun. 8, 2026

A new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution examines the remains of 132 individuals buried in a large megalithic tomb near Bury, about 50 kilometers north of Paris.

From Science Daily Apr. 22, 2026

When it was over, he said, "Choose four men and have them take the body north. Bury her at Winterfell."

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin

The road ahead is still uncertain as Iran buries the last of the first-generation founders of its 1979 revolution.

From BBC Jul. 7, 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

A revamped Rose Garden that buries the past and statues that diminish what the people they depict stood for.

From Slate May 18, 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

The whole table of boys starts cracking up, and blush girl runs back to her friends and buries her face in her hands.

From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée

In one seaside community, graffiti outside a collapsed building asked authorities not to demolish it until the families could recover nine bodies buried under the rubble.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 19, 2026

The impact site is now buried beneath Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.

From Science Daily Jul. 19, 2026

The cause can be hidden or buried, says Dr Itamar Shatz, a lecturer at Cambridge University who is publishing a book on the subject this week.

From BBC Jul. 17, 2026

Shortly after Max’s trial ended, Anna and Tom got married, Anna got sober, and both buried a few secrets.

From Salon Jul. 17, 2026

“The first is buried with Papa, the second went to the grave with Mama, and the third adorns my brother’s hand. But I desperately want it for myself.”

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

As international rescue teams packed up and ended attempts to find survivors, attention shifted to mourning those lost and burying the remains that families have recovered from the ruins.

From Barron's Jul. 5, 2026

But a big part of him burying himself has so much to do with his brother, with his family.

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 26, 2026

Many carbon-removal startups have sprung up, trying everything from spreading carbon-absorbing rock on fields to burying waste—to the point that Frontier now wants to concentrate its bets.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 18, 2026

Widow’s Bay’s founders damned themselves and all their descendants by burying their iniquity instead of living with it long enough to dispel it and learn from that mistake.

From Salon Jun. 18, 2026

He limped over to his bed and flopped down on it, burying his head in his pillow.

From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training