tomb

1 of 2

noun

ˈtüm 

1

a

: an excavation in which a corpse is buried : grave

b

: a place of interment

2

: a house, chamber, or vault for the dead

3

: a building or structure resembling a tomb (as in appearance)

tombless

ˈtüm-ləs 

adjective

tomb

2 of 2

verb

tombed; tombing; tombs

transitive verb

: bury, entomb

Synonyms

Noun

• burial
• grave
• sepulchre
• sepulcher
• sepulture

Verb

• bury
• entomb
• hearse
• inhume
• inter
• lay
• put away

Example Sentences

Noun

the tomb of Alexander the Great

explored the historic graveyard and saw tombs that dated back two centuries

Verb

Forest Lawn is where many of Tinseltown's immortals are tombed for all eternity.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

However, the tephra used in the tomb's mortar contained much more potassium-rich leucite. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 19 Apr. 2023

Still, no one is ever confirmed as being in the tomb, and Debbie even ponders whether or not Danny is really dead. —Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 17 Apr. 2023

Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Mark Paez, the Port of San Francisco’s preservation officer, led the way the other afternoon in a nondescript building on the central waterfront into a large room, dark and dusty as a tomb. —Carl Nolte, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 Mar. 2023

Nicholas, Alexandra, and three daughters were returned to their tomb, but Alexei and Maria remain unburied. —Town & Country, 14 Nov. 2022

The historic examination of Tutankhamun’s mummy inside the tomb’s innermost coffin was performed over seven days in October and November of 1925, and meticulously recorded in Carter’s journals. —National Geographic, 18 Oct. 2022

To encounter the book, at college, was to feel like an Egyptologist, breaking into a sealed tomb. —Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 26 Sep. 2022

His son, Pharaoh Khafre built the second, slightly smaller pyramid around 2520 B.C., in addition to the enigmatic limestone Sphinx that is thought to stand guard over this tomb. —Ellie Nan Storck, Travel + Leisure, 10 Apr. 2023

Afterward, the group processed down to the Anastasis, the church in Jerusalem marking the place believed to be Jesus’ tomb, for evening prayer. —Joanne M. Pierce, The Conversation, 31 Mar. 2023

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Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English tombe, from Anglo-French tumbe, from Late Latin tumba sepulchral mound, from Greek tymbos; perhaps akin to Latin tumēre to be swollen — more at thumb entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

tomb

noun

ˈtüm

1

: grave entry 2 sense 1

2

: a house or burial chamber for dead people