ashes
plural noun
ruins or remains, as after destruction or burning
ashes
1 British
/ ˈæʃɪz /
plural noun
-
ruins or remains, as after destruction or burning
the city was left in ashes
-
the remains of a human body after cremation
Ashes
2
British
/ ˈæʃɪz /
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of Ashes
from the mock obituary of English cricket in The Times in 1882 after a great Australian victory at the Oval, in which it was said that the body would be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia
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:
“Refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is … not the same as violence,” Attiah said in another post.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Prized vinyl records and vintage audio equipment are nothing more than a blank mush, speckled with ashes and broken pieces.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
If Lisa opened the box at the wrong moment, the ashes would fly right back into her face — and in this moment, we were not going for comedy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
After Scott, a Vietnam War veteran, died in August 2013 at age 58, Bare scattered his ashes on her property.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
A woman poured ashes into a mortar and pounded them as she called the names of Vatete's relatives who lived too far away to attend the funeral.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
He was the only member of England's attack to play all five matches in the Ashes series in Australia.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Smith was one of the players who most noticeably wilted under the pressure and scrutiny of the Ashes tour.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
But they do not return for a Test at Headingley for three years, meaning they will not have the advantage of playing on this ground in next summer's home Ashes series.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
So, with big series on the horizon after this - a winter trip to South Africa and then the Ashes next summer – it has got to the stage where we have to move on.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," she murmured and thumped her breasts.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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.
