graveyard
Americannoun
-
a burial ground, often associated with smaller rural churches, as distinct from a larger urban or public cemetery.
-
Informal. graveyard shift.
-
a place in which obsolete or derelict objects are kept.
an automobile graveyard.
noun
Etymology
Origin of graveyard
Compare meaning
How does graveyard compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A graveyard is an area where the dead are buried. When you walk through a historic graveyard, you'll see many beautiful old headstones and tombs. Other names for a graveyard are "cemetery" and "burial ground." It's slightly more common to use graveyard, a word that dates from about 1683, for the burial site near a church. If you work at a graveyard, you might care for the grave markers and plants. If, on the other hand, you work a graveyard shift, that simply means you work late at night.
Vocabulary lists containing graveyard
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.
The little bean bags that once appeared relegated to the same cultural graveyard as mixtapes and Blockbuster have taken over high-school sports fields, hallways and sometimes classrooms seemingly overnight.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026
“Great work by our graveyard Officers, even when tired, for trusting their instincts, staying persistent, and quite literally listening to the walls.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026
"The world of social networks is an enormous graveyard," eYou's Vigroux acknowledged, adding that "99 percent of European social networks launched in the last 10 years have fallen flat."
From Barron's • May 9, 2026
There is also what appears to be a grey building that sits in the middle of the graveyard - likely to be a columbarium which houses funeral urns, says Chung.
From BBC • May 7, 2026
Just as I’m about to cross the street, I hear a crunching sound—someone walking down the little gravel path that leads from the graveyard to the gates.
From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish
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.
