memento mori

American  

[muh-men-toh mawr-ahy, mohr-ahy, mawr-ee, mohr-ee, me-men-toh moh-ree] / məˈmɛn toʊ ˈmɔr aɪ, ˈmoʊr aɪ, ˈmɔr i, ˈmoʊr i, mɛˈmɛn toʊ ˈmoʊ ri /

noun

plural

memento mori

1. (italics) remember that you must die.

2. an object, as a skull, serving as a reminder of death or mortality.

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memento mori British  

/ ˈmɔːriː /

noun

1. an object, such as a skull, intended to remind people of the inevitability of death

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Usage

What does memento mori mean? Memento mori is a Latin phrase that translates to "remember you must die."A memento mori is something, historically a skull, that serves as a reminder of death and mortality.

Etymology

Origin of memento mori

First recorded in 1585–95, memento mori is from Latin mementō morī

Example Sentences

Kelson’s memento mori, in its way, adds dignity to what is otherwise a sentence to nothingness.

From Salon • Jan. 23, 2026

It is a chronicle, an accounting, a memento mori.

From Salon • Nov. 11, 2025

Not even “Orange Grove Estates” as a memento mori.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 22, 2024

At its exit is a photograph from three decades later of another, crumpled pair of glistening red Adidas shorts: a drapery study, a memento mori.

From New York Times • Sep. 8, 2022

My life is like a memento mori painting from European art: there is always a grinning skull at my side to remind me of the folly of human ambi­tion.

From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

Related Words

• warning