cenotaph
noun
a sepulchral monument erected in memory of a deceased person whose body is buried elsewhere.
cenotaph
American
[sen-uh-taf, -tahf]
/ ˈsɛn əˌtæf, -ˌtɑf /
noun
Cenotaph
1
British
/ ˈsɛnəˌtɑːf /
noun
cenotaph
2
British
/ ˈsɛnəˌtɑːf /
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cenotaph
1595–1605; < Latin cenotaphium < Greek kenotáphion, equivalent to kenó ( s ) empty + -taphion ( táph ( os ) tomb + -ion diminutive suffix)
Explanation
A cenotaph is a monument to the dead, specifically those buried in another place. Cenotaphs are often erected in honor of war veterans. A cenotaph — which is very similar to a tomb — is a memorial to the dead. Unlike a tomb, a cenotaph doesn’t contain the body of the person memorialized, because the remains are elsewhere or couldn’t be recovered. Across the United States, you can find cenotaphs for people who served in World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, and other conflicts. Family members and other citizens leave flowers at cenotaphs to pay respect to the dead.
Vocabulary lists containing cenotaph
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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:
A wooden cenotaph, initially intended to be temporary, was erected in Whitehall.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2025
The cenotaph "is not a billboard for claims, however respectable they may be," he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2025
Choi kneels before the cenotaph and hangs his head.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2023
“A vast cenotaph of secession” was how the journalist and historian Tony Horwitz described Richmond in his 1998 book, “Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches From the Unfinished Civil War.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 26, 2022
The cenotaph afterwards erected in Stoke Park by Mr. Penn is described below.
From Select Poems of Thomas Gray by Robert Carruthers
Donald Poole, a 101-year-old who is a veteran of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, will march at the Cenotaph service with the Burma Star Memorial Fund.
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2025
This week will see annual Remembrance events, including the ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall on Sunday.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2025
Sir Keir joined other political leaders and members of the Royal Family, including the Prince and Princess of Wales, for the annual National Service of Remembrance ceremony at the Cenotaph in London on Sunday.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2024
Among the ten thousand men and women marching past the Cenotaph at this year’s Remembrance service, there were six surviving veterans of D-Day.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2024
"Cenotaph of Lincoln, The": poem by James Mackay, 181.
From The Poets' Lincoln Tributes in Verse to the Martyred President by Osborn H. (Osborn Hamiline) Oldroyd
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.
