charnel

noun

variants also charnel house
Definition of charnelnext
as in tomb

Related Words

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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
  1. tomb
  2. crypt
  3. vault
  4. sepulchre
  5. coffin
  6. sarcophagus
Noun
  • Architect Todd Ernst, who helped uncover the mural, compared the experience to discovering an Egyptian tomb.
    — Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 13 Oct. 2026
  • But there is very little archaeological evidence available, given that many of the earliest Egyptian tombs were plundered and/or hastily excavated.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of tomb
Noun
  • The grandiose panic room where Kate and Hal are locked down after the shooting was filmed in the crypt of a church on the Upper West Side.
    — Emily Zemler, Condé Nast Traveler, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Michael the Lawyer and Ben the Barrel Racer go into the third crypt (Alan calls them gay Lara Crofts) and have the option of grabbing $15,000 in gold or $5,000 and a clue about the Traitors.
    — Alice Burton, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of crypt
Noun
  • The Dakota and Ojibwe language archive that leaders feared was lost in a Minneapolis fire survived, and it is being moved to the basement vault of an old bank building.
    — Eric Henderson, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026
  • At the center of it all is the daring, epic raid on a bank vault deep beneath the streets of Zurich.
    — Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of vault
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
Definition of sepulchre
Noun
  • The Panthers set up 48 yards from pay dirt and then, a handful of plays later, Young placed a beautiful pass into the hands of a wide-open Tommy Tremble for a touchdown — and also placed the nail in the game’s proverbial coffin.
    — Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 18 Oct. 2026
  • Local authorities will cover the cost of the whole process — from new coffins or urns to headstones at the new sites.
    — Hira Humayun, CNN Money, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of coffin
Noun
  • The same circle of dealers also sold artworks to the Metropolitan Museum, where the New York District Attorney’s Office seized five antiquities valued collectively at more than $3 million in 2022; those included a gold sarcophagus.
    — Brian Boucher, ARTnews.com, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Inside, a replica King Tut sarcophagus stood against a cinderblock wall, looking out at a table and some chairs.
    — Gregory Royal Pratt, Chicago Tribune, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of sarcophagus

Browse Nearby Words

charms
charnel
charnels
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Charnel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/charnel. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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