necrology

American  

[nuh-krol-uh-jee, ne-] / nəˈkrɒl ə dʒi, nɛ- /

noun

plural

necrologies

1. a list of persons who have died within a certain time.

2. a notice of death; obituary.

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necrology British  

/ ˌnɛkrəˈlɒdʒɪkəl, nɛˈkrɒlədʒɪ /

noun

1. a list of people recently dead

2. a less common word for obituary

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Other Word Forms

• necrologic adjective
• necrological adjective
• necrologically adverb
• necrologist noun

Etymology

Origin of necrology

First recorded in 1720–30; necro- + -logy

Explanation

A necrology is a list of people who have died, or an obituary of a single person. If someone is writing a history of one battle of the Civil War, they might attempt a necrology of every soldier who died. If the newspaper publishes a list of passengers who died in a plane crash, you can call it a necrology. And the obituary, or death notice, of your great grandfather who died at the age of 110, can also be called a necrology — although obituary is much more common. Necrology was used more often in the eighteenth century, and it comes from necro-, "death," from the Greek nekros, "corpse."

Example Sentences

How woefully The Post covers necrology news, the dead beat.

From Washington Post • Feb. 19, 2021

Whitman’s name doesn’t come up in Vanessa Gould’s “Obit,” a documentary about The Times’s necrology team at work.

From New York Times • Apr. 25, 2017

I mean, no Rivette in the necrology montage?

From New York Times • Feb. 29, 2016

One of the most popular improvements was a necrology, a list of the names of the dead, which began appearing in the third edition.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy

Long ago the measure has been taken for my coffin and for my necrology, but I die so slowly that the process is tedious for me as well as my friends. 

From The Essays of "George Eliot" Complete by Sheppard, Nathan

Related Words

• eulogy
• obit