funeral director
Americannoun
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a person, usually a licensed embalmer, who supervises or conducts the preparation of the dead for burial and directs or arranges funerals.
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a person who owns or operates a funeral home.
noun
Etymology
Origin of funeral director
An Americanism dating back to 1885–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Undertakers in England and Wales can operate without a licence, with anybody free to set themselves up as a funeral director.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
A funeral director who failed to bury people and gave out wrong ashes has breached the trust of bereaved families "on an almost industrial scale", a court has heard.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
A British funeral director faced prison Monday over a scandal that saw bodies left "stored on racks" and uncremated while relatives were handed other people's ashes, sparking calls for better regulation of the industry.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Simon Helliar-Moore, an independent funeral director in Taunton, said the costs that come with a funeral such as a crematorium and coffins "go up every year".
From BBC ● May 15, 2026
We started quiet, but soon exploded, as the kindly funeral director pretended not to listen and our mother just stared at us implacably, through the fog of her own pain.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
