disinter

verb

dis·​in·​ter ˌdis-in-ˈtər How to pronounce disinter (audio)
disinterred; disinterring; disinters

transitive verb

1
: to take out of the grave or tomb
2
: to bring back into awareness or prominence
also : to bring to light : unearth
disinterment noun

Examples of disinter in a Sentence

The body was disinterred for further study. the Egyptian mummy was carefully disinterred
Recent Examples on the Web Many people were buried temporarily in American cemeteries then and disinterred — sometimes years later — when restrictions loosened, according to Sherry Bensimon, a funeral director at Riverside Memorial Chapel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Sarah Maslin Nir, New York Times, 23 Oct. 2023 An unknown number of graves were disinterred, while other graves lay forgotten. Claire Healy, Washington Post, 14 Dec. 2023 Over a decade later, the remains were disinterred and sent to DPAA’s Omaha, NE, lab in June 2022. Davi Merchan, ABC News, 7 Dec. 2023 The remains were disinterred in 2018 and transferred to the DPAA laboratory, where one set was identified as Hall. CBS News, 28 Nov. 2023 In April 2018, the remains were disinterred and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory, where one set was eventually confirmed to belong to Hall. Abigail Adams, Peoplemag, 28 Nov. 2023 Her first praise house opened on Juneteenth 2021 at the African American Burial Grounds in Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery, where the individual graves of more than 800 enslaved people were disinterred and moved to an unmarked mass grave (the location was discovered in 2016). Patricia Leigh Brown, New York Times, 23 Nov. 2023 The bodies were disinterred, and the identification process started anew. Kevin Sieff, Washington Post, 31 Oct. 2023 At the time, the American Graves Registration Service disinterred the remains of U.S. personnel from the Halawa and Nu'uanu cemeteries and transferred them to a laboratory, which confirmed the identities of 39 men from the USS California. Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 3 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'disinter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1611, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of disinter was in 1611

Dictionary Entries Near disinter

Cite this Entry

“Disinter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disinter. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

disinter

verb
dis·​in·​ter ˌdis-ᵊn-ˈtər How to pronounce disinter (audio)
1
: to take out of the grave or tomb
2
: to bring back into awareness : unearth
disinterment noun

Medical Definition

disinter

transitive verb
dis·​in·​ter ˌdis-ᵊn-ˈtər How to pronounce disinter (audio)
: to take out of the grave or tomb
disinterment noun
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