morgue

noun

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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Clandestine graves are discovered on a semiregular basis; more than 70,000 unidentified remains have piled up in morgues and cemeteries. ABC News, 14 Apr. 2026 Salk and his team worked out of a basement at the University of Pittsburgh, sandwiched between a morgue and a darkroom. Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Apr. 2026 Organized crime exercises de facto control over vast swaths of the country, where the discovery of clandestine graves is commonplace, and thousands of corpses remain unidentified in morgues and public cemeteries. Los Angeles Times, 6 Apr. 2026 For the next two weeks, Rebin visited morgues, cemeteries, police stations, prisons, and forensic offices in Tehran and its neighboring districts. Cora Engelbrecht, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for morgue

Word History

Etymology

French

First Known Use

1795, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of morgue was in 1795

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Morgue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morgue. Accessed 18 Apr. 2026.

Kids Definition

morgue

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

Legal Definition

morgue

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

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