last rites
Americannoun
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of last rites
First recorded in 1925–30
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.
After days of searching shelters and mortuaries, relatives of some of the missing lost hope and began conducting last rites.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
It is important to remember that the last rites for the convertible have been read before.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
Today, it’s as though it’s waiting for last rites.
From MarketWatch ● May 27, 2026
The time has come to read the Phillies their last rites.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2025
Always before, Jim and I had carried them into the mountains to bury them and to give them their last rites, a prayer over a rough wooden cross of birch twigs and twine.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
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.
