tomb

1 of 2

noun

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 adjective

tomb

2 of 2

verb

tombed; tombing; tombs

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 See More

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

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of tomb was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near tomb

Cite this Entry

“Tomb.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tomb. Accessed 3 Jun. 2023.

Kids Definition

tomb

noun
ˈtüm
1
2
: a house or burial chamber for dead people

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