mausoleum

American  

[maw-suh-lee-uhm, -zuh-] / ˌmɔ səˈli əm, -zə- /

noun

plural

mausoleums, mausolea

1. a stately and magnificent tomb.

2. a burial place for the bodies or remains of many individuals, often of a single family, usually in the form of a small building.

3. a large, gloomy, depressing building, room, or the like.

4. (initial capital letter) the tomb erected at Halicarnassus in Asia Minor in 350? b.c.

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mausoleum British  

/ ˌmɔːsəˈlɪəm /

noun

1. a large stately tomb

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mausoleum Cultural  

1. A tomb, or a building containing tombs. Mausoleums are often richly decorated. The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum.

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Other Word Forms

• mausolean adjective

Etymology

Origin of mausoleum

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin < Greek Mausoleîon the tomb of Mausolus, king of Caria

Example Sentences

The two men -- dubbed "eternal leaders" in state propaganda -- are housed in the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a vast mausoleum in downtown Pyongyang.

From Barron's

A footballing mausoleum of memories and moments, both awe-inspiring and harrowing.

From BBC

Nikita Khrushchev and other top officials watched from atop the red granite mausoleum holding the bodies of the former Soviet leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin.

From Literature

Odinga was buried nearby at his late father's homestead, where there is a family mausoleum.

From BBC

Robert Badinter, the justice minister who ended the death penalty in France in 1981, entered the country's Pantheon mausoleum of outstanding historical figures on Thursday, just hours after his grave was vandalised.

From Barron's

Related Words

• burial
• cemetery
• coffin
• monument
• vault