bury
verb (used with object)
to put in the ground and cover with earth.
bury
American
[ber-ee]
/ ˈbɛr i /
verb (used with object)
-
buries,
present (3rd person singular)
-
buried,
past participle, past
-
burying
present participle
-
to put in the ground and cover with earth.
The pirates buried the chest on the island.
-
to put (a corpse) in the ground or a vault, or into the sea, often with ceremony.
They buried the sailor with full military honors.
-
to plunge in deeply; cause to sink in.
to bury an arrow in a target.
-
to cover in order to conceal from sight.
She buried the card in the deck.
- Antonyms:
- uncover
-
to immerse (oneself).
He buried himself in his work.
-
to put out of one's mind.
to bury an insult.
-
to consign to obscurity; cause to appear insignificant by assigning to an unimportant location, position, etc..
Her name was buried in small print at the end of the book.
noun
-
buries
plural
idioms
-
bury the hatchet, to become reconciled or reunited.
-
bury one's head in the sand, to avoid reality; ignore the facts of a situation.
You cannot continue to bury your head in the sand—you must learn to face facts.
bury
1
British
/ ˈbɛrɪ /
verb
-
to place (a corpse) in a grave, usually with funeral rites; inter
-
to place in the earth and cover with soil
-
to lose through death
-
to cover from sight; hide
-
to embed; sink
to bury a nail in plaster
-
to occupy (oneself) with deep concentration; engross
to be buried in a book
-
to dismiss from the mind; abandon
to bury old hatreds
-
to cease hostilities and become reconciled
-
to refuse to face a problem
Bury
2
British
/ ˈbɛrɪ /
noun
-
a town in NW England, in Bury unitary authority, Greater Manchester: an early textile centre. Pop: 60 178 (2001)
-
a unitary authority in NW England, in Greater Manchester. Pop: 181 900 (2003 est). Area: 99 sq km (38 sq miles)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
burysimple
-
buriessimple
-
have buriedperfect
-
has buriedperfect
-
am buryingprogressive
-
are buryingprogressive
-
is buryingprogressive
-
have been buryingperfect progressive
-
has been buryingperfect progressive
Past
-
buriedsimple
-
had buriedperfect
-
was buryingprogressive
-
were buryingprogressive
-
had been buryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bury
First recorded before 1000; Middle English berien, buryen, Old English byrgan “to bury, conceal”; akin to Old English beorgan “to hide, protect, preserve”; cognate with Dutch, German bergen, Gothic bairgan, Old Norse bjarga
Explanation
When you dig a hole in the ground, put an object in the hole, and cover it up with dirt, you bury it. Your dog might prefer spending the majority of his time digging holes to bury his toy collection. You can bury something to hide it, or it can be part of a funeral ritual to bury a person who's died. You could also predict that the coming snow will bury the city, or you might bury your face in your hands if you were feeling dejected. The root of bury is the Proto-Indo-European word bhergh, "to protect or preserve." If you bury your money in the yard, maybe you're trying to protect it from thieves.
Vocabulary lists containing bury
"Eleven"
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List 5
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"Mysteries of the Ancient Past"
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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:
Israeli troops used bulldozers to bury the bodies and vehicles on the side of the road, the Journal reported.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
"We're waiting to recover the body so we can bury her," he told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
After seeing JPMorgan leaders repeatedly attempt to bury the issues she raised, Lillie sought whistleblower protections and disclosed her concerns to the Justice Department, U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Former undertaker Robert Bush admitted 67 offences, including failing to bury and cremate people at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
But I wasn’t going to let that no account city boy bury me alive.
From "Worth" by A. LaFaye
A genetic study of 132 people buried in a large megalithic tomb near Bury, about 50 kilometers north of Paris, has uncovered evidence of a dramatic population collapse and replacement during the Stone Age.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
Jamie Yetter was staying at the Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa with her fiancé, Chris Bury, and her teenage daughter when they witnessed the attack Friday night, she told NBC Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
Bury got into a kayak but there were no oars nearby to help him paddle, he told the station.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
"I was also shocked by the number of no shows listed at Bury St Edmunds. Usually 30 per day! There should be a penalty for not turning up," she said.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
“Keep this. Bury it with her when you take her back home.”
From "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys
At every turn, Schoenbrun buries the movie alive, heaping layer upon layer of meta subtext onto it.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
The commission is a German non-profit organisation that searches, recovers and buries the war dead on behalf of the German government.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Dozens of crumbling buildings in Venezuela's decimated earthquake zone bear a spray-painted letter 'D' -- a sign that buries any hope of finding life beneath the rubble.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
A revamped Rose Garden that buries the past and statues that diminish what the people they depict stood for.
From Slate ● May 18, 2026
Then he makes an elaborate treasure map of where it’s buried, puts it in another jar, and buries that one too.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
On Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had claimed the US had "dismantled Iran's military capabilities, destroyed nearly 100 percent of its military factories, and buried its nuclear programme".
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
Drone footage showed buildings in Gyirong Port, the largest land trading hub connecting China and Nepal, buried in mud.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
That was the small revelation buried inside my stack of bargain kielbasa: perhaps I didn’t need to just prep meals.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
She notes that the hydrocarbons needed for life that we have on Earth are on Titan’s frozen surface, while liquid water is buried 50 miles below.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Little Britches had buried her face in Tansy’s shirtwaist.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Enormous quantities of material would have been thrown outward during the collision and redistributed across Deimos, burying many older surface features.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026
"Tearing our hair out and burying ourselves in the ground -- that's not our way. We are optimists," Vadym, who declined to give his surname, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Someone else threw out the idea of burying the ring for Danielle to find.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Meanwhile Venezuelans have begun burying the dead who have been found so far.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
He did the only thing he could and threw himself flat on the ground, burying his face in the grass.
From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz
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.
