gravedigger

American  

[greyv-dig-er] / ˈgreɪvˌdɪg ər /

noun

gravediggers plural

1. a person whose occupation is digging graves.

2. burying beetle.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• gravediggers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of gravedigger

First recorded in 1585–95; grave ¹ + digger

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gravedigger gravediggers

At noon on Sunday, Amotz Bazar, the kibbutz gravedigger, pulled up the driveway to the cemetery in Nir Oz.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2025

"A gravedigger had to come over and use water from his lunch to clean the gravestone before we could rebury him."

From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2024

Kuznetsov never imagined he would be a gravedigger.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 25, 2023

And Frank Diger, the cemetery owner who had employed my Basque grandfather, Bakersfield’s best gravedigger.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2022

At night he slept, exhausted as a gravedigger, too tired even to dream.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

In a secluded area of La Esperanza cemetery in La Guaira, gravediggers buried more than 150 bodies still unidentified since the earthquakes, AFP journalists saw.

From Barron's ● Jul. 5, 2026

Deputy Mayor of Freetown Kweku Lisk told the BBC that his office had requested security from the police in order to tackle gravediggers.

From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2024

On Monday afternoon, half a dozen gravediggers took a break in the shade, waiting for the latest coffin to inter at the cemetery, called Lychakiv.

From New York Times ● Jun. 19, 2023

Berger, who lost 20 kilograms to see the chamber himself, believes the stones show ancient gravediggers excavated the pit, digging up dirt and stones, setting them aside, and then using them to cover the body.

From Science Magazine ● Jun. 4, 2023

Tents were set up at the cemeteries so that gravediggers could rest but never be far from their ceaseless work.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy