mausoleum
Americannoun
plural
mausoleums, mausolea-
a stately and magnificent tomb.
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a burial place for the bodies or remains of many individuals, often of a single family, usually in the form of a small building.
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a large, gloomy, depressing building, room, or the like.
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(initial capital letter) the tomb erected at Halicarnassus in Asia Minor in 350? b.c.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of mausoleum
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin < Greek Mausoleîon the tomb of Mausolus, king of Caria
Explanation
A mausoleum is a building that contains a tomb or tombs. The Taj Mahal, built by Shah Jahan as a monument to his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, is the world's most famous mausoleum. Mausoleion, the Greek source of the Latinized mausoleum, was the name given to the tomb of the King Mausolus, a Persian ruler who died in 353 B.C.E. This vast elaborate structure was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Other notable mausoleums or mausolea include the mausoleum of China's First Qin Emperor –- the site of the famous Terra Cotta Army — and the tombs of Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln.
Vocabulary lists containing mausoleum
You Name It: Eponyms
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Some Obscure Eponyms
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100 Great Words from "Fahrenheit 451" -- Part I Vocabulary
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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.
Housed among millions of relics, item number 1847,0424.19 was recovered in the 1850s in the dust of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, located in modern-day Bodrum, Turkey.
From Salon • Nov. 26, 2024
He entombed his wife in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.
From National Geographic • Nov. 16, 2023
In the city of Ramallah, in the West Bank, hundreds gathered outside the Yasir Arafat Mausoleum, where the former Palestinian president is buried.
From New York Times • May 15, 2023
The Mass, which took place at the John Garang Mausoleum in front of an audience of 70,000 according to estimates, was filled with cheerful worshippers waiving flags and deep in prayer.
From BBC • Feb. 5, 2023
Soviet soldiers guarding the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow, 1989.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
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.
