undertaker
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of undertaker
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at undertake, -er 1
Explanation
An undertaker is someone who prepares a body for burial or cremation. When a loved one dies, you'll have to visit an undertaker. An undertaker doesn't literally "take you under" after you die, but he or she does prepare your body for burial or cremation and assists a family with all aspects of funeral arrangements. If someone in your family dies, an undertaker can help you decide between burial and cremation. An undertaker can help plan a wake and the details of the funeral service. Undertakers help you select a coffin or urn. Of course, you will be making those choices for someone else — not for yourself.
Vocabulary lists containing undertaker
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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The Stranger
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Bronx Masquerade
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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:
Sentencing him at Hull Crown Court, Judge Justice Hilliard told the former undertaker he had "caused anguish and pain on a scale beyond comprehension".
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Many former customers said Bush had presented as the archetypal, caring undertaker; a point noted by Hull West and Haltemprice MP Emma Hardy.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
A local undertaker said the embalmed remains of the Iranian sailors were being sent back in sealed boxes.
From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026
A pilgrimage to the oldest concrete road in America detours to meeting a descendant of the undertaker who embalmed Chef Boyardee.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 21, 2026
The undertaker had put rouge and lipstick on his face to make him look natural.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
The mother of a stillborn baby boy who was found at an undertakers almost two years after his funeral says the funeral director "will pay for what he's done".
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2026
Now undertakers are offering dedicated spaces to families.
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
Metz, chief executive of Meine Erde, has spent the past five-plus years crisscrossing Germany, trying to persuade lawmakers and medics, undertakers and religious authorities to approve human composting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
“The Mortician” is not the cable network’s first series about a family of undertakers operating a Pasadena funeral home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2025
“The undertakers got a group, and they marched,” Reese recalled.
From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman
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.
