interment

American  

[in-tur-muhnt] / ɪnˈtɜr mənt /

noun

interments plural

1. the act or ceremony of interring; burial.

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interment British  

/ ɪnˈtɜːmənt /

noun

1. burial, esp with ceremonial rites

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• reinterment
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• interments
  plural

Etymology

Origin of interment

1300–50; inter + -ment; replacing Middle English enter ( e ) ment < Middle French enterrement

Compare meaning

How does interment compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• interment vs. internment

Explanation

Interment is the placing of a corpse in a grave. If a loved one dies, you need to make arrangements for the interment so that people can bid the deceased farewell. Interment comes from root words meaning "to place inside," and in this case it's the placing of someone inside the earth, for burial. The Egyptian Pyramids are landmarks of very extravagant interment. At the Chinese Emperor Qin's interment, he had an army of warriors made out of terra cotta buried with him, in case he needed to fight in the afterlife.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

interment interments

Someone who exhumed a recent interment without that knowledge might well have discovered something difficult to explain.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025

His funeral ceremony at the National Cathedral will be held the following day — which President Biden has decreed a national day of mourning — followed by a private interment in his Georgia hometown, Plains.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2025

Military veterans are entitled to interment at a national or state cemetery, but White Tanks becomes the final resting place for hundreds of people annually, with 513 burials there last year.

From Seattle Times ● May 27, 2024

“This moment,” said the Rev. Jesse Wendell Mapson, a local pastor involved in planning the commemoration and interment of the 19, “has not come without some pain, discomfort and tension.”

From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2024

Cora reached for her hair before realizing that after her interment there was no improving her appearance.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

Neath Port Talbot council said: "The crematorium grounds can no longer accommodate further interments alongside previous remains."

From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026

The statement called for demarcated and documented individual graves, saying hasty interments could lead to mental anguish for families as well as social and legal problems.

From Reuters ● Sep. 15, 2023

She’d opted to confine her legislation to a three-decade period, she said, because she didn’t believe record-keeping was comprehensive enough to review all interments since Arlington’s establishment in 1864.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 28, 2022

Dedicated in 1848, it boasts more than 120,000 interments that include the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers, paupers and bourbon barons alike.

From Slate ● Dec. 11, 2020

Such dates as I had succeeded in deciphering on the broken sepulchres lower down were all of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; but the inscriptions upon these bore reference to quite recent interments.

From A Night on the Borders of the Black Forest by Edwards, Amelia Ann Blanford