columbarium

[kol-uhm-bair-ee-uhm]

noun

plural

columbaria 

1. a sepulchral vault or other structure with recesses in the walls to receive the ashes of the dead.

2. any one of these recesses.

3. columbary.

columbarium

/ ˌkɒləmˈbɛərɪəm /

noun

1. another name for a dovecote

2. a vault having niches for funeral urns

3. a hole in a wall into which a beam is inserted

Word History and Origins

Origin of columbarium¹

1840–50; < Latin: literally, a nesting box for pigeons, equivalent to columb ( a ) pigeon, dove + -ārium -ary

Word History and Origins

Origin of columbarium¹

C18: from Latin, from columba dove

Example Sentences

But on a dreary Sunday afternoon last fall, bouquets of white roses and blue hydrangeas enlivened the Spanish marble columbarium where Drakeo the Ruler is interred.

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Mei and Shing casually dismiss Angie’s insistence that Pat wanted to have her ashes scattered at sea, instead heeding the advice of their fortuneteller, arranging for a traditional ritual and internment in a columbarium.

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Her remains are stored in one of a series of ornate lockers in the columbarium of a Buddhist temple in Hsinchu, second from the bottom, just a few feet away from my uncle, her son.

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If she left behind enough money in her estate, her ashes would go into an individual niche with a nameplate in a columbarium, where urns are stored.

Read more on Seattle Times

Small armies of landscapers tend to lush grass and rolling hills, where private roads with names like “Memory Lane” and “Baby Land” lead upward past maximalist mausoleums, columbaria and replica Renaissance statuary.

Read more on New York Times