- a variation of sepulcher.
sepulchre
Americannoun
noun
-
a burial vault, tomb, or grave
-
Also called: Easter sepulchre. a separate alcove in some medieval churches in which the Eucharistic elements were kept from Good Friday until the Easter ceremonies
verb
Etymology
Origin of sepulchre
C12: from Old French sépulcre, from Latin sepulcrum, from sepelīre to bury
Explanation
There are many possible resting places for your body once you die, and a sepulcher is the best option if you want a fancy room made entirely from stone. Think it over, because you can only choose once. Crypts, mausoleums, sarcophagi, sepulchers: each one is a place to bury someone, with slight variations. A sepulcher (or if you’re British you’ll spell it sepulchre) is basically a stone room with a stone coffin where your body lies. The word comes from the Latin sepulcrum, which means “burial place,” for obvious reasons. Pronouncing sepulcher could trick you, because the ch actually sounds like a k: "SEP-ul-ker."
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:
In some accounts he is buried with his wife and two children next to the tomb of Jesus — the ultimate martyr’s sepulchre.
From Time ● Mar. 30, 2016
It depicts a stern risen Christ on the edge of a sepulchre; the city's name means "holy sepulchre" in Italian.
From Reuters ● Nov. 16, 2014
Maurice, meanwhile, is terrified of mouldering in respectable suburbia, dragging some poor virgin into the sepulchre with him.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 5, 2013
At dawn of the third day, a worried Barabbas hid himself near the sepulchre: Would the dead man really rise from the grave, as he had heard some of the man's disciples predict?
From Time Magazine Archive
Was there someone here? f • • • Maester Luwin stepped toward the open sepulchre, torch in hand.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
I regarded it as a vast tomb of Mausolus in which lay deep sepulchred how much genius, culture, brilliancy, power!
From Prince Zaleski by Shiel, M. P. (Matthew Phipps)
The history of this village has all the wildness of romance, and, indeed, throughout this land of sepulchred cities the genius of romance sits enthroned.
From Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. II. by Stephens, John L.
Keep still possession of thy gloomy place, That all the faults which in thy reign are made, May likewise be sepulchred in thy shade!
From The Rape of Lucrece by Shakespeare, William
If they were to be torn apart by death, and sepulchred possibly in different caves of the ocean, surely his last farewell might be a kiss.
From Overland by De Forest, J. W. (John William)
When my clay idol fell I could not gather back the wasted trust and affection, and so, all—all is sepulchred in one deep grave.
From Infelice by Evans, Augusta J. (Augusta Jane)
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.
