funeral
[fyoo-ner-uh l]
- the ceremonies for a dead person prior to burial or cremation; obsequies.
- a funeral procession.
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- of or relating to a funeral: funeral services; funeral expenses.
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- 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!
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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
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
burialcremationrequiementombmentinhumationintermentsepultureplantingobitservicesobsequiesexequiesExamples from the Web for funeral
Contemporary Examples
Yet even after the funeral protest, de Blasio was booed and heckled while addressing a new class of recruits as well.
Those who are not working on Sunday will almost certainly attend the funeral for Liu.
The truest words at the funeral were those of young Jaden, as quoted by the governor.
Castro actually flew up to Montreal to be a pallbearer at the 2000 funeral of a beloved Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau.
As far as he is concerned, they're preparing his obituary and he doesn't care to attend the funeral.
Historical Examples
Renny, give me that revolver, and I'll show you more fun than a funeral.
In the Midst of AlarmsRobert Barr
Knock at the door, whence the sable line of the funeral is next to issue!
Main StreetNathaniel Hawthorne
His funeral had, however, been performed with full solemnity.
Cameos from English History, from Rollo to Edward IICharlotte Mary Yonge
And it made us hush down, too, and talk low, like people at a funeral.
Tom Sawyer AbroadMark 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 AbroadMark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
funeral
- a ceremony at which a dead person is buried or cremated
- (as modifier)a funeral service
- a procession of people escorting a corpse to burial
- informal worry; concern; affairthat's your funeral
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Word Origin
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
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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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with funeral
funeral
see it's your funeral.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.