interment
Americannoun
-
interments
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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:
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.
Vocabulary lists containing interment
"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
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The Importance of Being Earnest
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Stories of Ourselves
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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.
See Examples For:
“Here’s our North Star: Does this help us win?” he said in a mid-December statement announcing his turnabout and the study’s unceremonious interment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2025
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
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
So it said it was "with regret" that historic areas of the gardens could 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
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
The District’s public disposition program provides cremations and interments of the indigent and unclaimed bodies.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 26, 2019
"Placed here 10-5-2084, aged 64 years; this done voluntarily and as a public service to the men of the future, as part of the program of living interments inaugurated in 2067."
From The Buttoned Sky by Geoff St. Reynard
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.
