interment
Americannoun
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
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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
When he learned of Lanchester's interment, during the course of his regular research into historic death certificates, he decided she would be his next memorial project.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 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
“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
And I remembered how intensely I felt about my interment.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
The crematorium would continue to offer new interments within other sections of the gardens and its team was available to support families in exploring options.
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
In spring 2020, as Covid-19 overwhelmed morgues, interments on Hart Island increased about fivefold to 120 per week from 25.
From New York Times ● Mar. 16, 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
At a great settlement of theirs, Golasecca, in Cisalpine Gaul, 6000 interments were found.
From Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race by Rolleston, T. W. (Thomas William)
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.
