epitaph

American  

[ep-i-taf, -tahf] / ˈɛp ɪˌtæf, -ˌtɑf /

noun

1. a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument about the person buried at that site.

2. a brief poem or other writing in praise of a deceased person.

---

verb (used with object)

1. to commemorate in or with an epitaph.

epitaph British  

/ ˌɛpɪˈtæfɪk, -ˌtæf, ˈɛpɪˌtɑːf /

noun

1. a commemorative inscription on a tombstone or monument

2. a speech or written passage composed in commemoration of a dead person

3. a final judgment on a person or thing

---

Other Word Forms

• epitaphic adjective
• epitaphist noun
• epitaphless adjective
• unepitaphed adjective

Etymology

Origin of epitaph

1350–1400; Middle English epitaphe < Latin epitaphium < Greek epitáphion over or at a tomb, equivalent to epi- epi- + táph ( os ) tomb + -ion noun, adj. suffix

Example Sentences

When the cartographer James Cheshire stumbled into the room in University College London several years ago, he encountered less a resource for mapping the modern globe than “an epitaph of a world we once knew.”

From The Wall Street Journal

In words he shared with teenagers, Prefontaine wrote his own best epitaph: “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”

From The Wall Street Journal

There’s an abundance of small slabs, simple epitaphs like Our Baby.

From Los Angeles Times

If we were to assign his TV father an epitaph, he could do a lot worse than the unvarnished speech that closes the first season.

From Salon

The circumstances of the child’s death are eventually established as being bizarre and farcical, and along with a recurring gag involving the epitaph on her little headstone, it’s all supposed to be hilarious.

From Salon

Related Words

• elegy
• eulogy