entomb
Americanverb (used with object)
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entombs,
present (3rd person singular)
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entombed,
past participle, past
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entombing
present participle
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to place in a tomb; bury; inter.
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to serve as a tomb for.
Florentine churches entomb many great men.
verb
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to place in or as if in a tomb; bury; inter
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to serve as a tomb for
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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entombsimple
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entombssimple
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have entombedperfect
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has entombedperfect
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am entombingprogressive
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are entombingprogressive
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is entombingprogressive
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have been entombingperfect progressive
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has been entombingperfect progressive
Past
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entombedsimple
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had entombedperfect
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was entombingprogressive
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were entombingprogressive
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had been entombingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of entomb
1425–75; late Middle English entoumben < Middle French entomber. See en- 1, tomb
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:
Low property prices in the country mean that for many, it is more affordable to entomb the ashes of relatives in an empty apartment than pay for funeral costs.
From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2026
That procedural rules are not meant to entomb the truth, especially when the state seeks to end a life.
From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2025
The idea is that the shifting salt will eventually entomb the radioactive waste left from decades of bomb-making and nuclear weapons research.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 26, 2022
Critically endangered American burying beetles entomb dead animals “in an underground crypt” so their offspring can feed on the carcass, Barclay says.
From National Geographic ● Nov. 22, 2017
Together with verbal coffins like model and level in which writers entomb their actors and actions, the English language provides them with a dangerous weapon called nominalization: making something into a noun.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
John Boorman’s bold, unnerving crime film “Point Blank” entombs its potent emotions within opaque performances, stripped-down dialogue and a cool-to-the-touch visual style.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
In a tragic extension of this structure, Moonlight entombs even Chiron’s adulthood in the confines of the closet.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2018
Joy’s mother, defeated by divorce, entombs herself in her bedroom, a man-fearing Miss Havisham addicted to soap operas.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 31, 2015
The oily shale that entombs those fossils was laid down as lake sediments about 47 million years ago, says Walter Joyce, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Tübingen in Germany.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 20, 2012
The King within the cave his seer entombs, And mourning sadly from the cavern comes; The entrance closes with the rocks around, Again upon his journey he is bound.
From Babylonian and Assyrian Literature by Anonymous
By then, it was too late for many entombed in the detritus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
In scenes that resemble a dystopian sci-fi movie, their widespread use has left swathes of frontline cities and fields entombed in webs of cable.
From Barron's ● Feb. 20, 2026
“You can tell a lot about a street by the type of chairs and how they’re placed,” said Knapp, who walked 2.5 miles round trip for groceries and beer while his car was entombed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026
That’s a linchpin scene from Terry Gilliam’s visionary 1985 masterpiece “Brazil,” a prophetic and bleakly satirical depiction of a society entombed in fascism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2025
Even without the braids—even entombed in the car—his long, handsome face and tall, lean body evoked those of an Osage warrior.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
“Washington’s clearest nonproliferation wins against Iran in the war were stopping all uranium enrichment at declared facilities and entombing enriched uranium stockpiles,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
In March, Chinese authorities banned entombing cremated remains in empty apartments, a practice that took off as mourners tried to dodge rising funeral costs.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
Two days later, they retrieved the bulldozer and filled the hole, entombing those stories in the old dining room forever.
From Salon ● May 29, 2023
Engineers anticipated that the ice—already a dozen meters thick—would continue to accumulate in northwestern Greenland, permanently entombing what they left behind.
From Science Magazine ● Aug. 4, 2016
But now, at length, dear Dian sank from sight, Into a western couch of thunder-cloud; And thou, a ghost, amid the entombing trees 50 Didst glide away.
From Selections from Poe by J. Montgomery Gambrill
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.
