tomb
Americannoun
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tombs
plural
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an excavation in earth or rock for the burial of a corpse; grave.
-
a mausoleum, burial chamber, or the like.
-
a monument for housing or commemorating a dead person.
-
any sepulchral structure.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a place, esp a vault beneath the ground, for the burial of a corpse
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a stone or other monument to the dead
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a poetic term for death
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anything serving as a burial place
the sea was his tomb
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tomb
1225–75; Middle English tumbe < Anglo-French; Old French tombe < Late Latin tumba < Greek týmbos burial mound; akin to Latin tumēre to swell. See tumor, tumulus
Explanation
A tomb is a place where a dead person is buried. Usually, a tomb is under a tombstone, which says the name of the person who died and when they lived. We're all going to die, and that means we're all going to end up in some type of tomb: a place where a corpse is buried. Over time, there have been many types of tombs, including the huge, ornate, elaborate tombs of the Egyptians. Other tombs are simpler, involving the simple burial of a box or the cremated remains.
Vocabulary lists containing tomb
Ancient Egypt - Introductory
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"The Pedestrian" by Ray Bradbury
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Words Whose Pronunciation Has Changed Over Time
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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:
Ms. Turetsky applies a bewildering array of nouns to describe peat—it is a vault, a tomb, a record, a pendulum, an archive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The attribution to Samuel is based on clues including the location of the tomb, the sumptuousness of the garment, the age of the deceased and an old fracture.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
The first moment you look inside a newly discovered ancient tomb is at once exciting and terrifying.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026
Archeologists have dug up an ancient tomb that has largely been untouched for 600 years.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
She walked to Celaena, and it was all the assassin could do to keep from backing out of the tomb and running away.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
Underground Etruscan tombs perforate the wooded land, “waiting to be cracked open like tin cans.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
He often talks about one of the earliest-known toys, miniature chariots in Egyptian tombs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Thousands of mourners lined the streets as the king's casket was transported to the royal tombs in Fort Portal where a private ceremony took place.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Their tombs contained objects more commonly associated with male burials, including bows and arrows.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
Bill’s taken us around all the tombs and you wouldn’t believe the curses those old Egyptian wizards put on them.
From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
