dolmen

American  

[dohl-men, -muhn, dol-] / ˈdoʊl mɛn, -mən, ˈdɒl- /

noun

Archaeology.

1. a structure usually regarded as a tomb, consisting of two or more large, upright stones set with a space between and capped by a horizontal stone.

---

dolmen British  

/ ˈdɒlmɛn /

noun

1. (in British archaeology) a Neolithic stone formation, consisting of a horizontal stone supported by several vertical stones, and thought to be a tomb

2. (in French archaeology) any megalithic tomb

---

Other Word Forms

• dolmenic adjective

Etymology

Origin of dolmen

First recorded in 1855–60; from French, from Cornish, form of tolmen “hole of stone” (taken by French archaeologists to mean cromlech ), from toll “hole” (compare Irish toll, Welsh twll ) + men “stone” ( cf. menhir); alternatively, perhaps from a corruption of Breton taol “table” (from Latin tabula; see table) + maen “stone”

Example Sentences

Archaeologists have documented more than 95 dolmen structures at Murayghat.

From Science Daily • Nov. 4, 2025

In ink and watercolor, Lundbye portrays an artist drawing the coastal landscape outdoors, as he leans back against a funerary dolmen with sketchpad in hand.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 14, 2023

Primitiva Bueno Ramírez, an archaeologist at the University of Alcalá in Madrid who has studied this dolmen for three decades, sees the menhirs as frozen fragments of history.

From New York Times • Sep. 9, 2022

"The dolmen emerges and the dolmen tourism begins," he told Reuters after a busy day spent shuttling tourists to the site and back.

From Reuters • Aug. 19, 2022

At a crossroads a ground set with dolmen stones where the spoken bones of oracles lay moldering.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy