1595–1605; < Latin cenotaphium < Greek kenotáphion, equivalent to kenó ( s ) empty + -taphion ( táph ( os ) tomb + -ion diminutive suffix)
A cenotaph is a monument to the dead, specifically those buried in another place. Cenotaphs are often erected in honor of war veterans. A cenotaph — which is very similar to a tomb — is a memorial to the dead. Unlike a tomb, a cenotaph doesn’t contain the body of the person memorialized, because the remains are elsewhere or couldn’t be recovered. Across the United States, you can find cenotaphs for people who served in World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, and other conflicts. Family members and other citizens leave flowers at cenotaphs to pay respect to the dead.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The cenotaph "is not a billboard for claims, however respectable they may be," he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2025
The piece - a kneeling soldier among poppies - stands as a backdrop to the cenotaph in Abertillery, Blaenau Gwent.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2023
Choi kneels before the cenotaph and hangs his head.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2023
“A vast cenotaph of secession” was how the journalist and historian Tony Horwitz described Richmond in his 1998 book, “Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches From the Unfinished Civil War.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 26, 2022
This, however, is only a cenotaph, marking the spot where his heart is preserved.
From Walks in Rome by Hare, Augustus J. C.
They both would have stood in the same place facing the same message - the Glorious Dead - carved on the Cenotaph.
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2025
That was a reminder that as well as the military veterans, the commemoration by the Cenotaph brings together representatives of other types of service.
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2025
This week will see annual Remembrance events, including the ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall on Sunday.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2025
These will include the Cenotaph in Whitehall, the Royal Artillery Memorial in Hyde Park, and many other famous structures across Britain commemorating the service of the armed forces in the First and Second World Wars.
From BBC ● May 6, 2025
"Cenotaph of Lincoln, The": poem by James Mackay, 181.
From The Poets' Lincoln Tributes in Verse to the Martyred President by Oldroyd, Osborn H. (Osborn Hamiline)
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.
