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

Examples of tomb in a Sentence

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
Fu and her team took samples from three tombs in the cemetery, and the team then processed the DNA to trace the evolution of the bacteria across thousands of years. Mithil Aggarwal, NBC News, 26 Sep. 2024 The artifact was, in fact, illegally excavated from an ancient tomb in the region of modern-day Manisa in the early 1980s. Ashley Lee, Los Angeles Times, 20 Sep. 2024
Verb
In order to become proper Chinese third graders—to go all the way from Heaven to tomb—Natasha and Ariel needed to memorize a total of sixteen hundred characters. Peter Hessler, The New Yorker, 26 June 2023 See all Example Sentences for tomb 

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 14 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

tomb

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

More from Merriam-Webster on tomb

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