pallbearer
Americannoun
-
pallbearers
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pallbearer
Explanation
The sad job of a pallbearer is to help carry the casket at a funeral service or burial. In Western cultures, pallbearers are usually family members or close friends of the person who has died. Traditionally, pallbearers were men, all of whom wore white gloves as a sign of respect for the deceased person. These days, anyone can be a pallbearer. In some Eastern traditions, pallbearers are never members of the family, but instead are paid helpers. The word pallbearer comes from pall, "cloth spread over a coffin," and bearer, or "carrier."
Vocabulary lists containing pallbearer
Fences
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One of Us Is Lying
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The Fault in Our Stars
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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:
After Kennedy’s assassination, Whittaker was a pallbearer at the funeral in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
Hannah said one of the rooms they used was where a pallbearer would "lower the coffins down before they would be cremated... obviously they don’t use it any more".
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2024
At the dog park, he turned strangers into fast friends, joining regulars for dinner and even serving as a pallbearer at one of their funerals.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2024
Kara-Murza had been a friend of Sen. John McCain and was a pallbearer at his 2018 funeral.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 17, 2023
I also didn’t know what “it” was, but sort of put two and two together and guessed it had something to do with whatever a pallbearer was.
From "The Boy in the Black Suit" by Jason Reynolds
Just under two years later and both Ewie and Frans would be pallbearers at Hansie's funeral following his shock death in a plane crash.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2025
The band kept playing as the pallbearers trudged onward.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2025
It was lifted by pallbearers and carried into the church.
From New York Times ● Nov. 20, 2024
The couple watched as Valenzuela’s family made their way inside the cathedral, followed by the pallbearers who helped move the pitcher’s casket adorned with white roses inside the building.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2024
Who had ever heard of young women being pallbearers?
From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
