gravedigger

American  

[greyv-dig-er] / ˈgreɪvˌdɪg ər /

noun

• gravediggers
  plural

1. a person whose occupation is digging graves.

2. burying beetle.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• gravediggers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of gravedigger

First recorded in 1585–95; grave ¹ + digger

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gravedigger gravediggers

Local gravedigger Toby Howat, 25, is working with Goldsworthy.

From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026

The banter between Hamlet and the gravedigger allows for the kind of witty wordplay that is Izzard’s stand-up stock-in-trade.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2026

At noon on Sunday, Amotz Bazar, the kibbutz gravedigger, pulled up the driveway to the cemetery in Nir Oz.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2025

The targets of his search included a highway grass cutter, a gravedigger and a janitor, all of whose musical talents were at the time basically unknown.

From New York Times ● May 10, 2023

At night he slept, exhausted as a gravedigger, too tired even to dream.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

In a secluded area of La Esperanza cemetery in La Guaira, gravediggers buried more than 150 bodies still unidentified since the earthquakes, AFP journalists saw.

From Barron's ● Jul. 5, 2026

The gravediggers marking out the individual spaces where exhumed corpses will be buried.

From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2024

Berger, who lost 20 kilograms to see the chamber himself, believes the stones show ancient gravediggers excavated the pit, digging up dirt and stones, setting them aside, and then using them to cover the body.

From Science Magazine ● Jun. 4, 2023

Three gravediggers in tattered jackets looked on with their hands folded solemnly.

From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2023

One of the gravediggers then jumped in and covered the hole with wooden planks and a reed mat.

From "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" by William Kamkwamba