burial

[ber-ee-uh l]

See more synonyms for burial on Thesaurus.com

noun

the act or ceremony of burying.
the place of burying; grave.

Origin of burial

1200–50; bury + -al²; replacing Middle English buriel, back formation from Old English byrgels burial place, equivalent to byrg(an) to bury + -els noun suffix; cf. riddle¹

Related formsre·bur·i·al, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for burial

funeral, interment, entombment, deposition, sepulture, inhumation, obsequies, exequies

Examples from the Web for burial

Contemporary Examples of burial

As the burial team arrived to remove the body, he began making small movements and was found to be still alive.
What It’s Like to Wake Up Dead
Dr. Anand Veeravagu, MD, Tej Azad
November 21, 2014
Unfortunately, neither of our teams had pinpointed the pig's burial site.
Knowing Where the Bodies Are Buried: An Excerpt From 'Lives in Ruins'
Marilyn Johnson
November 14, 2014
“At one point they were going to perform a burial ceremony with the ashes,” he says.
Rage Against the Ebola Crematorium
Abby Haglage
November 11, 2014
This one woman crawled toward the body of her sister as the burial team carried out the body, carried the body bag away.
The Photojournalist Who Stared Down Ebola
Abby Haglage
November 8, 2014
But the chain of death continued in the family after the burial of their mother.
This Man Lost 35 Relatives to Ebola and His Community Wants Him Gone
Wade C.L. Williams
October 30, 2014

Historical Examples of burial

The burial took place at Mount Auburn on the ensuing Tuesday.
Biographical Sketches
Nathaniel Hawthorne
For his fight with Finn, his death and burial, see under Finn.
Beowulf
Unknown
They were laid side by side in a long trench in the burial- ground.
The Works of Whittier, Volume VI (of VII)
John Greenleaf Whittier
There is no doubt among antiquaries that they are connected with the burial of the dead.
English Villages
P. H. Ditchfield
A family or a burial association needed a place of sepulchre.
The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete
Emile Zola

British Dictionary definitions for burial

burial

noun

the act of burying, esp the interment of a dead body

Word Origin for burial

Old English byrgels burial place, tomb; see bury, -al ²

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for burial

"act of burying," late 13c.; earlier "tomb" (c.1200), false singular from Old English byrgels "tomb," from byrgan "to bury" + suffix -els; a compound also found in Old Saxon burgisli, suggesting a Proto-Germanic *burgisli-, from PIE *bhergh- "to hide, protect" (see bury). The Germanic suffix *-isli- (also in Old English hydels "hiding place," fætels "bag") became obsolete and was felt as a plural of the Latin-derived suffix -al (2) forming nouns of action from verbs (survival, approval, etc.).