morgue

American  

[mawrg] / mɔrg /

noun

• morgues
  plural

1. a place in which bodies are kept, especially the bodies of victims of violence or accidents, pending identification or burial.

2. a reference file of old clippings, mats, books, etc., in a newspaper office.

3. the room containing such a reference file.

4. any place, as a room or file, where records, information, or objects are kept for unexpected but possible future use.

5. such records, information, or objects.

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morgue ¹ British  

/ mɔːɡ /

noun

1. another word for mortuary

2. informal a room or file containing clippings, files, etc, used for reference in a newspaper

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morgue ² British  

/ mɔrɡ /

noun

1. superiority; haughtiness

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• morgues
  plural

Etymology

Origin of morgue

1815–25; < French; name of building in Paris housing unidentified dead bodies

Explanation

Most hospitals have an area called a morgue, where dead bodies are stored until they are buried or cremated. After a person dies, that person's body is often placed in a morgue until it can be transported to a funeral home, church, or temple for a memorial service or funeral. Occasionally, a body needs to be identified by relatives, and that often happens in a morgue as well. Another word for morgue is mortuary. The word comes from the French La Morgue, which was one specific building in 1800s Paris. It replaced the much more blunt term "dead house."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

morgue morgues

Ms. Margolles witnessed these outcomes first-hand in her earlier career as a forensic technician in Mexico City’s morgue, an experience that infuses her work with elements of scientific exactitude as well as ritualistic imagery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

Raj Kumari Tamang, a 20-year-old woman wearing a mask, went to the morgue looking for her father.

From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026

Vaccines, masking, improved indoor air quality and acquired immunity have all kept the virus at bay so that morgue trucks no longer fill the streets.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026

“It was like going to the morgue to identify a body,” said Bayouth, 40.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

I find it improbable, and ominous: first the retrospective, then the morgue.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

"The government may be inexperienced, but it has done its best," said Prakash Aryal, who has been searching morgues for his sister and her family, speaking to AFP at a Kathmandu hospital.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

"We've searched for him in hospitals, in morgues – everywhere," his stepfather, Jose Alejandro Abache, told BBC Mundo.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Others were frantically searching by hand for missing loved ones in the rubble, but also in hospitals and morgues.

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

Individuals were also identified in footage from morgues, including the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Centre, to where many bodies from Tehran and surrounding areas were transferred.

From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026

Trucks and cabs joined the ambulance crews in the work of transporting these to morgues and hospitals.

From Astounding Stories of Super-Science February 1930 by Harry Bates

Related Words

• funeral home