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definitions

funeral

[fyoo-ner-uh l]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR funeral ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the ceremonies for a dead person prior to burial or cremation; obsequies.
a funeral procession.

adjective

of or relating to a funeral: funeral services; funeral expenses.

Idioms

    be someone's funeral, Informal. to have unpleasant consequences for someone: If you don't finish the work on time, it will be your funeral!

Origin of funeral

1350–1400; Middle English (adj.) < Medieval Latin fūnerālis, equivalent to Latin fūner-, stem of fūnus funeral rites + -ālis -al1; (noun), from early 16th cent., probably < Middle French funerailles < Medieval Latin fūnerālia, neuter plural of fūnerālis
Related formspre·fu·ner·al, adjective
Can be confusedfuneral funereal funerary
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for funeral

burial, cremation, requiem, entombment, inhumation, interment, sepulture, planting, obit, services, obsequies, exequies

Examples from the Web for funeral

Contemporary Examples of funeral

Historical Examples of funeral

  • Renny, give me that revolver, and I'll show you more fun than a funeral.

  • Knock at the door, whence the sable line of the funeral is next to issue!

    Main Street

    Nathaniel Hawthorne

  • His funeral had, however, been performed with full solemnity.

  • And it made us hush down, too, and talk low, like people at a funeral.

    Tom Sawyer Abroad

    Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

  • But it is sorrow and trouble that brings you the nearest, and it was a funeral that done it with us.

    Tom Sawyer Abroad

    Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

British Dictionary definitions for funeral

funeral

noun

  1. a ceremony at which a dead person is buried or cremated
  2. (as modifier)a funeral service
a procession of people escorting a corpse to burial
informal worry; concern; affairthat's your funeral

Word Origin for funeral

C14: from Medieval Latin fūnerālia, from Late Latin fūnerālis (adj), from Latin fūnus funeral
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for funeral
n.

mid-15c., from Middle French funérailles (plural) "funeral rites" (15c.), from Medieval Latin funeralia "funeral rites," originally neuter plural of Late Latin funeralis "having to do with a funeral," from Latin funus (genitive funeris) "funeral, funeral procession, burial rites; death, corpse," origin unknown, perhaps ultimately from PIE root *dheu- (3) "to die." Singular and plural used interchangeably in English until c.1700.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with funeral

funeral

see it's your funeral.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.