ossuary
Americannoun
-
ossuaries
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ossuary
1650–60; < Late Latin ossuārium, variant of ossārium, equivalent to oss- (stem of os ) bone + -ārium -ary
Vocabulary lists containing ossuary
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.
See Examples For:
Those concepts interlace in his ossuary, enlivened when he plays his tenderly kept records, remnants of human joy all but lost to a Rage pestilence.
From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2026
But Southern California has always been an ossuary of failed publications done in by apathetic readership, clueless owners or a combination of both.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2024
He was buried in a specially designed crypt in the cathedral which he commissioned that will be the resting place of all future archbishops after the remains of their predecessors are transferred to an ossuary.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 12, 2022
The original site of Memorial Day ceremonies at Arlington was an enormous ossuary containing bones from 2,111 soldiers gathered from Civil War battlefields.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 10, 2018
A wall of stones was built around this vast ossuary to preserve it from profanation.
From An Introduction to the mortuary customs of the North American Indians by H. C. (Harry Crécy) Yarrow
Lasting art can be mysterious and often misunderstood; this can also be said of ossuaries.
From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2026
His “Ruins of Rome” etchings depict landmarks like the Pantheon and the Castel Sant’Angelo, but its most famous images show rubble-strewn gardens and crumbling bridges, and tricorn-hatted gentlemen wandering through collapsed temples and overgrown ossuaries.
From New York Times ● Jun. 25, 2021
Yesterday, in the presence of an expert appointed by the Orlandi family, forensic scientists extracted bones from two ossuaries found last week under a stone slab in a Vatican college.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 20, 2019
On Saturday, experts will examine two ossuaries - small chambers where dead are buried - found in the first search.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2019
This would explain the huge ossuaries found in regions so widely separated.
From Manners and Monuments of Prehistoric Peoples by N. D'Anvers
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