casket

American  

[kas-kit, kah-skit] / ˈkæs kɪt, ˈkɑ skɪt /

noun

• caskets
  plural

1. a coffin.

2. a small chest or box, as for jewels.

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verb (used with object)

1. to put or enclose in a casket.

casket British  

/ ˈkɑːskɪt /

noun

1. a small box or chest for valuables, esp jewels

2. another name for coffin

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• casketlike
  adjective
• uncasketed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• caskets
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of casket

1425–75; late Middle English < ?

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Explanation

A casket is a coffin, or a box in which the body of a dead person is buried. Some funeral traditions include a chance for mourners to see the deceased in the casket before burial. Most caskets are made of wood — some plain, and others more ornamental. Many caskets are buried in cemeteries, although others are cremated, or burned to ash, depending on religious and personal preferences. You can also use the word casket to mean "small box," particularly a box for jewelry or other precious items, and this is the word's earliest meaning, from the Old French cassette, a diminutive form of case.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

casket caskets

“We found the company, which is still in L.A., that made the ‘Helena’ casket that’s in a music video and they said, ‘We can make you an exact replica,’” adds Gomez.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026

Thousands of mourners lined the streets as the king's casket was transported to the royal tombs in Fort Portal where a private ceremony took place.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

That experience is due to come in handy, people around Brown say, now that the modern USW covers a spectrum of 850,000 cradle-to-grave workers from maternity nurses to casket makers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Mavericks fans staged a faux funeral complete with a casket a day later in front of the Dirk Nowitzki statue outside the American Airlines Center.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026

The casket had been closed at the wake, and I let myself think that maybe he wasn’t in there at all.

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen

State media showed five simple caskets wrapped in Iranian flags inside the mosque, including a small one containing the body of Khamenei’s 1-year-old granddaughter who Iran said was killed in the airstrike alongside him.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026

Hughes himself lay in one of the caskets to experience it.

From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2026

Indian authorities said an inscription on one of the caskets unearthed with the treasure confirmed the contents -- which include bone fragments -- as "relics of the Buddha".

From Barron's ● Jan. 3, 2026

She balked at the idea of a traditional burial, calling caskets and tombstones “a racket.”

From Salon ● Dec. 9, 2025

To the funeral home he went first and looked carefully at the selection of caskets.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

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