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:
A local undertaker said the embalmed remains of the Iranian sailors were being sent back in sealed boxes.
From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026
Doing so was the role of the undertaker, Van Der Zee explains, though the photographer had his own aesthetic duties.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
On Wednesday, former undertaker Robert Bush appeared at Hull Crown Court after an investigation into human remains found at his premises.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2025
The single, folded sheet lists just 90 names, mostly businesses near historic downtown such as liveries, saloons, physicians, mills, druggists and the local undertaker.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
The undertaker takes a step forward and says, “Open, Says Me.”
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
The court heard the undertakers became suspicious and asked Moore how many bodies were at the site.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Now undertakers are offering dedicated spaces to families.
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
Every autumn, as leaves turn from green to auburn and float to the ground, we turn into a nation of outdoor undertakers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
HH: That is so true, and so necessary for fundamental change, because we need new undertakers, new reapers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2024
It was brought back to Greenwood and turned over to the Century Burial Association, local Negro undertakers.
From "Mississippi Trial, 1955" by Chris Crowe
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.
