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:
Kate said the undertaker told her Paul had a tag on him saying "environmental hazard" while his body was in the morgue.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
Eleri's body was flown back to the UK and has been formally identified by an undertaker, the inquest heard.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 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 mother of four, she worked as a nurse, a midwife, and even as an undertaker to help support her family.
From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen
The undertakers were "shaken" and flagged down a passing police car, the court was told.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 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
Modern Western culture caricatures vultures as undertakers, grim harbingers of death and hardly ideal images of maternal love.
From Salon ● May 11, 2025
He brought rocks in wheelbarrows for undertakers to bury and carried away the deceased.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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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.
