sarcophagus
Americannoun
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a stone coffin, especially one bearing sculpture, inscriptions, etc., often displayed as a monument.
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Greek Antiquity. a kind of stone thought to consume the flesh of corpses, used for coffins.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sarcophagus
1595–1605; < Latin < Greek sarkophágos, noun use of the adj.; see sarcophagous
Explanation
If you want to go out in style, buy yourself a sarcophagus — a very fancy coffin usually decorated with elaborate carvings. If King Tut could arrange it, so can you! Sarcophagus comes from the Greek word sarkophagos meaning "limestone used for coffins." But the Greek literally translates to mean "flesh-eating." Seems a bit gruesome, doesn't it? This translation makes sense when you figure that limestone was used in coffins because it quickly decomposed the body. These stone coffins are usually decorated with a sculpture or inscription and date back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Rome, and Greece.
Vocabulary lists containing sarcophagus
Ancient Egypt - Introductory
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Ancient Egypt - Middle School and High School
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Cemetery Boys
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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.
It functions as a modern high-tech replacement for an inner steel-and-concrete structure -- known as the Sarcophagus, a defensive layer built hastily after the 1986 incident.
From Barron's • Dec. 26, 2025
“From day to day, we are seeing a worsening situation” Chernobyl’s Sarcophagus The remains of the reactor that blew up at Chernobyl is another concern.
From The Verge • Mar. 10, 2022
“The Sarcophagus is threatened on a daily basis by the vibrations produced by the tramway and the railroad Rome-Viterbo” said Valentino Nizzo, the museum’s director.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 14, 2022
The Augustus of Prima Porta and the Alexander Sarcophagus retained bold hues when they were discovered, as contemporaneous paintings of them confirm.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 22, 2018
As I remember the story of Sarcophagus as I read of him in college, he was a very pallid sort of a potentate—his forehead was white as marble.
From The Dreamers A Club by Bangs, John Kendrick
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.
