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.

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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

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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 Dombrowski signed shortstop Trea Turner to a $300 million contract in 2022, he explained his decision by delivering the quote that could double as his epitaph.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 2, 2025

If this ends up being Cronenberg’s last, he’ll have gone out with a worldly, weighty epitaph.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 18, 2025

On the headstone marking his grave, the epitaph simply read “The Butler.”

From Seattle Times • May 16, 2024

Mr Suraiya, the magazine's most prolific and peripatetic writer, wrote the epitaph for a dream that died young.

From BBC • Dec. 27, 2023

And no greater tribute can be paid to you as parents, and no greater epitaph can come to them as children, than where they died and what they were doing when they died.

From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry

Related Words

• elegy
• eulogy