embalm
Americanverb (used with object)
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embalms,
present (3rd person singular)
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embalmed,
past participle, past
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embalming
present participle
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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
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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embalmsimple
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embalmssimple
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have embalmedperfect
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has embalmedperfect
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am embalmingprogressive
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are embalmingprogressive
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is embalmingprogressive
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have been embalmingperfect progressive
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has been embalmingperfect progressive
Past
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embalmedsimple
-
had embalmedperfect
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was embalmingprogressive
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were embalmingprogressive
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had been embalmingperfect progressive
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.
See Examples For:
It can also be dangerous to embalm traditions, Burke believed, noting that “a state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
She and her colleagues also embalm about 65% of the bodies, preserving them for longer and slowing down decomposition.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2023
Another unexpected application for the antimicrobial sealant: “To embalm large intruders like mice and wasps that are too heavy to carry out after they sting them to death,” she said.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 2, 2022
“I had no desire to embalm or freeze artists who were still alive and making work.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 13, 2022
Mr. Carriaga addressed him sternly: “Did you embalm Josh Billings?”
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
But currently in the mortuary, Ms Walton embalms about three to four bodies a day.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2023
Zahn, owner of the Tillman Funeral Home & Crematory, embalms and buries people for a living.
From BusinessWeek ● Oct. 24, 2013
Among them is Paccione Funeral Directors in Staten Island, which embalms up to 140 bodies a month.
From New York Times ● Jul. 20, 2011
The average funeral home embalms about 150 bodies a year, suggesting that many embalmers are not exposed to formaldehyde throughout the day.
From New York Times ● Jul. 20, 2011
The nominalization rule takes a perfectly spry verb and embalms it into a lifeless noun by adding a suffix like -ance, -ment, -ation, or -ing.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
A biographer of Celan must decide how to come near poems that seem to resist approach, and a life that has been embalmed by its own legend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Lukashenko visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun -- where Kim's embalmed father and grandfather lie in state -- to pay his respects, flanked by top North Korean officials, the report said.
From Barron's ● Mar. 25, 2026
The bodies had been donated to science, with the subjects dying in the past three years and then embalmed.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2025
In 2012, the team said it received “problematic” documents from coroners detailing how one infant wasn’t autopsied until after its body was embalmed and how another’s death certificate didn’t match what the autopsy found.
From Salon ● Dec. 3, 2024
Westing was already embalmed; tomorrow he would be cremated.
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
The findings provide a more detailed understanding of known embalming mixtures and offer deeper insight into how these preservation techniques developed over time.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 16, 2026
The family paid Risher $4,131 for funeral and embalming services in preparation for the funeral held at Casa Funeral Espinoza in Mexico.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2026
They grouped the compounds into four main categories connected to specific embalming ingredients.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 16, 2026
Eventually, the discovery of formaldehyde and the use of embalming fluids reduced the demand for cadavers, as did the growing number of people donating their bodies to science.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
He worked with animals too and, having studied in France, he even dabbled in the new practice of embalming bodies before they were buried.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
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.
