mourner

[mawr-ner, mohr-]

noun

1. a person who mourns.

2. a person who attends a funeral to mourn for the deceased.

3. (at religious revival meetings) a person who professes penitence for sin, with desire for salvation.

mourner

/ ˈmɔːnə /

noun

1. a person who mourns, esp at a funeral

2. (at US revivalist meetings) a person who repents publicly

Word History and Origins

Origin of mourner¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; mourn, -er ¹

Example Sentences

At the site of Nova festival, mourners gathered to pay their respects.

Read more on BBC

Hundreds of mourners walked with coffins draped in colourful cloth into the compound of the Arerti Mariam church while clerics conducted burial rituals.

Read more on BBC

Thousands of mourners turned out for his funeral in Moscow in March 2024 despite well-founded fears of a police crackdown.

Read more on BBC

The mourners sang along to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” and participated in a group prayer.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

On a grey, foggy morning, as a group of mourners have gathered on an Appalachian mountaintop, a woman played by folksinger Hazel Dickens begins to sing.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• pallbearer