sepulchral

American  

[suh-puhl-kruhl] / səˈpʌl krəl /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or serving as a tomb.

2. of or relating to burial.

3. proper to or suggestive of a tomb; funereal or dismal.

4. hollow and deep.

   sepulchral tones.

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sepulchral British  

/ sɪˈpʌlkrəl /

adjective

1. suggestive of a tomb; gloomy

2. of or relating to a sepulchre

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Other Word Forms

• sepulchrally
  adverb
• transsepulchral
  adjective
• unsepulchral
  adjective
• unsepulchrally
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of sepulchral

From the Latin word sepulcrālis, dating back to 1605–15. See sepulcher, -al ¹

Explanation

Something that reminds you of death is sepulchral. A dreary, misty graveyard at night usually feels sepulchral. A sepulchre is a tomb or a crypt — a kind of stone room meant for burying a dead body. Something that's sepulchral reminds you of a sepulchre, either because it looks or feels like an actual tomb, or simply because it makes you think of death or dying. An empty building might be sepulchral, or a gloomy gathering. The Latin root word is sepelire, "to bury or embalm."

Example Sentences

It has been already suggested that in the Sepulchral Banquet reliefs, which might be classed as votive reliefs, the banquet is represented in sculpture as a substitute for the actual offerings of food.

From A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume I (of 2) by Smith, A. H.

In Athens the type of the Sepulchral Banquet was also applied to another purpose, namely, for votive reliefs to Asclepios.

From A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume I (of 2) by Smith, A. H.

Electra in this sense offers the Prayer: setting forth the wrongs of the house and praying for Orestes and Vengeance: then calling on the Chorus for a Sepulchral Song she descends to the tomb.

From Story of Orestes A Condensation of the Trilogy by Moulton, Richard Green

Sepulchral relief, with a man seated, and a man standing holding a scroll in his left hand.

From A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume I (of 2) by Smith, A. H.

On these they engrav'd such Inscriptions as were proper for their Heathen Alters, Triumphal Arches, Sepulchral Monuments and Genealogical Histories of their Ancestors.

From Forty Centuries of Ink or, a chronological narrative concerning ink and its backgrounds, introducing incidental observations and deductions, parallels of time and color phenomena, bibliography, chemistry, poetical effusions, citations, anecdotes and curiosa together with some evidence respecting the evanescent character of most inks of to-day and an epitome of chemico-legal ink. by Carvalho, David Nunes