charnel

variants also charnel house
Definition of charnelnext

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of charnel Thousands of homes and a sprawl of entire neighborhoods were transformed into outdoor charnel houses. Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 10 Jan. 2025 For the Himalayan monks of the early teen centuries, the ideal setting for initiation was a charnel ground, where people left their dead to be eaten by wild animals. Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 2 Jan. 2025 His third-floor office, in a dingy concrete building across a roaring four-lane road from the Ikeja market, is a charnel house of dead mobile phones. Vince Beiser, WIRED, 30 Nov. 2024 Out of this charnel house where an American flag hung at one end, technicians hoped to identify 388 sailors and Marines from the Oklahoma. Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 16 Oct. 2024 See All Example Sentences for charnel
Recent Examples of Synonyms for charnel
Noun
  • Some audibly gasped and appeared in shock when it was announced that King Charles III and Queen Camilla would shortly be arriving to lay wreaths at the tomb.
    Karissa Waddick, USA Today, 30 Apr. 2026
  • But in a break with recent precedent, the MOD said no military hardware will roll past Lenin’s tomb this year.
    Nathan Hodge, CNN Money, 29 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • Lying in this crypt is Nathan Lane’s Willy Loman, a tragic humbug, his delusions contradicted by the ruins around him.
    Hilton Als, New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2026
  • Only the crypt—the chapel beneath the church—had been partially completed.
    Alicja Zelazko, Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • The warehouse becomes a secure vault guaranteeing the bank that the wheels exist, are in good condition and match the pledge register.
    Antonia Mortensen, CNN Money, 2 May 2026
  • Materials used for caskets and vaults are often made of wood, metal or concrete that require mining or tree cutting and huge amounts of energy to produce.
    Dorany Pineda, Fortune, 2 May 2026
Noun
  • The Enclave, Buick’s large, three-row crossover, has been redesigned for 2018, allowing the automaker to finally place its predecessor in a sepulchre and seal the entrance.
    Al Haas, Philly.com, 28 June 2018
  • The Garden Tomb, is believed by many to be the garden and sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea, and therefore a possible site of the resurrection of Jesus.
    Joe Yudin, Town & Country, 5 Oct. 2016
Noun
  • The final nail in the coffin may have been Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, a 2012 juggernaut that primed the public for twisty, femme-centric thrillers—a hunger that still hasn’t faded.
    Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 4 May 2026
  • Just four years later, the LIV players are learning that another business decision might be the final nail in the coffin of the whole endeavor.
    CNN.com Wire Service, Mercury News, 30 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • Unit 4, meanwhile, was sealed with a crude sarcophagus that stood until 2016.
    Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 26 Apr. 2026
  • The damage may slash the structure’s expected 100-year lifespan and delay critical dismantling of the underlying Soviet-era sarcophagus, potentially escalating radiation risks.
    Hanna Arhirova, Los Angeles Times, 25 Apr. 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Charnel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/charnel. Accessed 6 May. 2026.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster