obsequies
Britishplural noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of obsequies
C14: via Anglo-Norman from Medieval Latin obsequiae (influenced by Latin exsequiae ), from obsequium compliance
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.
I don’t want to add here to the emotional obsequies being written for the Washington Post, after its latest round of contraction last week.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026
The diplomatic focus will be on the part of St Peter's Square where presidents and prime ministers, princes and monarchs will sit waiting for the obsequies to begin.
From BBC • Apr. 25, 2025
That knowledge sits uncomfortably with what has come before, not because the leaden language of the scripted obsequies is persuasive, but because the grieving citizens are so real.
From New York Times • May 6, 2021
I can tell you, within hours, how many TV viewers tuned in for the Thatcher obsequies.
From The Guardian • Apr. 20, 2013
The friends and relatives are so busy with their sorrow, that they have neither time nor taste, for the examination of accounts, and, least of all, such as concern the obsequies of near friends.
From Dealings with the Dead, Volume I (of 2) by School, A Sexton of the Old
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
