mortuary

[mawr-choo-er-ee]

noun

plural

mortuaries 

1. funeral home.

2. a customary gift formerly claimed by and due to the incumbent of a parish in England from the estate of a deceased parishioner.

adjective

1. of or relating to the burial of the dead.

2. pertaining to or connected with death.

mortuary

/ ˈmɔːtʃʊərɪ /

noun

1. Also called: morgue. a building where dead bodies are kept before cremation or burial

adjective

1. of or relating to death or burial

Other Word Forms

• premortuary adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of mortuary¹

1350–1400; Middle English mortuarie < Medieval Latin mortuārium, noun use of neuter of Latin mortuārius of the dead, equivalent to mortu ( us ) dead + -ārius -ary

Word History and Origins

Origin of mortuary¹

C14 (as n, a funeral gift to a parish priest): via Medieval Latin mortuārium (n) from Latin mortuārius of the dead

Example Sentences

Friend B and another friend went to the mortuary to see Agnes's body.

Read more on BBC

There are several families like Mr Shrestha's waiting outside the mortuary for their names to be called so they can identify the bodies.

Read more on BBC

He had to identify her body in the mortuary.

Read more on BBC

So we took the photo that Kassem had taken in the mortuary to a team at Bradford University which, for the past 20 years, has been developing a unique algorithm called Deep Face Recognition.

Read more on BBC

Ms Odour says that amid an ongoing investigation into more deaths linked to the cult she has identified her husband's body at a mortuary in the coastal town of Malindi.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• morgue