morgue

noun

ˈmȯrg 

1

: a place where the bodies of dead persons are kept temporarily pending identification or release for burial or autopsy

2

: a collection of reference works and files of reference material in a newspaper or news periodical office

Examples of morgue in a Sentence

old news stories found in a newspaper morgue

Recent Examples on the Web

His family spent an agonizing week searching through morgues, hospitals and detention facilities before finally identifying his body among piles of corpses, also shown in the viral footage. —Emma Bussey, FOXNews.com, 27 Jan. 2026

In Kahrizak, south of Tehran, videos showed large crowds gathering around dozens of body bags on the pavement near a morgue. —Sarah Dean, CNN Money, 23 Jan. 2026

Videos from the site, which became a makeshift morgue, first circulated over the weekend. —Marin Scott, NBC news, 14 Jan. 2026

Images smuggled out of the country showed a Tehran-area morgue packed with hundreds of bodies from Thursday night alone. —Karl Vick, Time, 13 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

French

First Known Use

1795, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for morgue

• bourg
• faubourg

Kids Definition

morgue

noun

ˈmȯ(ə)rg 

1

: a place where the bodies of the dead are kept temporarily until they are identified or released for burial

2

: a department of a newspaper where reference material is filed

Medical Definition

morgue

noun

ˈmȯ(ə)rg 

: a place where the bodies of dead persons are kept temporarily pending identification or release for burial or autopsy

Legal Definition

morgue

noun

ˈmȯrg 

: a place where the bodies of persons found dead are kept until identified and claimed by relatives or released for burial or autopsy