epitaph

[ ep-i-taf, -tahf ]

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

/ ˈɛpɪˌtɑːf; ˌɛpɪˈtæfɪk; -ˌtæf /

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

Derived Forms

• epitaphic, adjective
• ˈepiˌtaphist, noun

Other Words From

• epi·taphic [ep-i-, taf, -ik], adjective
• epi·taphist noun
• epi·taphless adjective
• un·epi·taphed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of epitaph¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of epitaph¹

C14: via Latin from Greek epitaphion, from epitaphios over a tomb, from epi- + taphos tomb

Example Sentences

We got to know each other 25 years ago on the occasion of his first book, Epitaph for a Peach, a memoir about a farm passed down from father to son and the son’s determination not to plow under an old variety of the fruit.

From MIT Technology Review

The fact that the epitaphs are painted directly onto or close by to the tombs makes them a valuable repository of information about the previous occupants of the tombs.

From The Daily Beast

Rizzolli’s success in that September auction is just one of many examples that disprove the epitaphs written for the NFT market after it receded from its dizzying peak this spring.

From Time

The future of movies is unwritten—but let’s get through this harvest, a rich one, before we chisel the epitaph.

From Time

Still, infiltration of militants from Pakistan has not stopped completely, and experts point out it’s too early to write the epitaph of Kashmir’s militancy — at least 26 armed fighters have entered Kashmir this year.

From Ozy

When he ended Vieux Carré with the stage direction, “The house is empty now,” Lahr somberly terms it “an augury and an epitaph.”

From The Daily Beast

In the unlikely event McConnell loses his reelection bid, I already know the title for his political epitaph: Shameless.

From The Daily Beast

Weil believes they are a fitting epitaph to a man often described as the most influential British publisher of his generation.

From The Daily Beast

So he entitled one of his earlier books, thus already authoring his own epitaph.

From The Daily Beast

A stone mason was employed to engrave the following epitaph on a tradesman's wife: "A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband."

From Project Gutenberg

Here—stop and look—is the epitaph of one, a considerable fellow in his day, a barrister of the Middle Temple.

From Project Gutenberg

He was sumptuously buried in Kensal Green, where a marble pedestal carries his portrait and his epitaph.

From Project Gutenberg

The following epitaph given by Maitland commemorates a martyrdom of this reign.

From Project Gutenberg

While digging here in 1856, De Rossi found the important epitaph of Eusebius before given.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• elegy
• eulogy