embalm
Americanverb (used with object)
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to treat (a dead body) so as to preserve it, as with chemicals, drugs, or balsams.
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to preserve from oblivion; keep in memory.
his deeds embalmed in the hearts of his disciples.
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to cause to remain unchanged; prevent the development of.
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to impart a balmy fragrance to.
verb
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to treat (a dead body) with preservatives, as by injecting formaldehyde into the blood vessels, to retard putrefaction
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to preserve or cherish the memory of
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poetic to give a sweet fragrance to
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have embalmedperfect
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has embalmedperfect 3rd person singular
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am embalmingprogressive 1st person singular
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are embalmingprogressive
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has been embalmingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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have been embalmingperfect progressive
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embalmssingular 3rd person
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is embalmingprogressive 3rd person singular
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embalmingparticiple
Past
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had embalmedperfect
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was embalmingprogressive singular
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were embalmingprogressive plural
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had been embalmingperfect progressive
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embalmedsimple
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embalmedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of embalm
1300–50; Middle English embalmen, embaumen < Old French emba ( u ) smer, equivalent to em- em- 1 + -ba ( u ) smer, verbal derivative of ba ( u ) sme balm
Explanation
To embalm is to prepare a body for a funeral or burial. Part of a funeral director's job is to embalm the bodies of people who have died. Various traditions of death and burial require a dead body to be preserved with chemicals, and when someone does this, she's said to embalm the body. Occasionally, there are also medical research or educational reasons to embalm a body. Embalm has an Old French root, embaumer, "preserve a corpse with spices."
Vocabulary lists containing embalm
Ancient Egypt - Introductory
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The Things They Carried
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Ancient Egypt - Middle School and High School
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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.
Another part of you frantically tries to embalm the memories, fearing the natural deterioration and gnawing terror of time.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 25, 2025
She and her colleagues also embalm about 65% of the bodies, preserving them for longer and slowing down decomposition.
From BBC • Nov. 8, 2023
In 2020, a woman in Michigan with cerebral palsy was declared dead by paramedics but was discovered to be breathing hours later by a funeral home worker who was preparing to embalm her body.
From New York Times • Feb. 5, 2023
Lawyer Ronald Gordon, who is representing Chen’s family, said Chen’s parents traveled to Fiji after their daughter’s death but didn’t embalm her body and take her to the U.S. as they’d hoped.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 27, 2022
It caused Claudia to want to embalm Jamie in a vat of mummy fluid right that minute.
From "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg
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.
