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

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Etymology

Origin of morgue

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

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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

Using his hard-earned wisdom, he sought to steer young people away from prison or the morgue.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026

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

But my father’s radio station wanted to issue a news release about his death, so it leaned on the morgue to perform the autopsy sooner.

From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore

Meanwhile, Natalie Grayson, from the GMB union, said care workers were "left vulnerable and terribly exposed" during the pandemic which saw "care homes turned into morgues".

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026

With morgues overflowing, some 1,030 bodies have been buried in mass graves after taking DNA samples for future identification, Nepal Police said on Saturday.

From Barron's ● Sep. 5, 2026

Her anguish is shared outside morgues as well as in hospitals, where photos of missing persons are plastered on walls and utility poles, written on handwritten pieces of paper.

From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026

“I haven’t slept. I’m running from hospital to hospital, to the morgues to see if they’re there—but nothing,” Fajardo said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026

Her husband, who is an employe of the Elgin Watch Company, searched all the morgues and was making a tour of the hospitals when he found his wife.

From Chicago's Awful Theater Horror by Various

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Related Words

• funeral home

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