charnel

noun

variants also charnel house
Definition of charnelnext
as in tomb

Related Words

Relevance

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
  • All three will face a slew of charges, including injuring or removing a tomb or monument, disturbing the contents of a grave or tomb and grand theft, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday.
    — Rylan DiGiacomo-Rapp, The Orlando Sentinel, 20 Aug. 2026
  • In July 2025, utility workers excavating trenches to expand an underground gas network in Peru's capital unearthed two pre-Incan tombs that were over 1,000 years old.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of tomb
Noun
  • The Boulet Brothers descend on New York Comic Con to celebrate a decade of horror, filth, and glamour, and open the crypt on the show’s upcoming seventh season.
    — Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Aug. 2026
  • Call it the canary yellow uniforms in the coal mine — except the Red Sox have shot up the elevator shaft, bursting from their subterranean crypt.
    — Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 20 July 2026
Definition of crypt
Noun
  • Amenities include picnic tables, shade shelters and vault toilets at the campground.
    — Jamie Siebrase, Denver Post, 20 Aug. 2026
  • For now, the live album provides the first official document of a night that was evidently too strange — and potentially too cinematic — to leave in the vault.
    — SPIN Staff, SPIN, 19 Aug. 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
  • Hundreds of fans lined the streets of a seaside Welsh village on Saturday to bid farewell to late singer Bonnie Tyler as her coffin was brought home.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 15 Aug. 2026
  • But there’s not enough evidence to really put that nail in the coffin yet.
    — Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of coffin
Noun
  • 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
  • In the western chamber, archaeologists found a limestone sarcophagus containing a mummy wrapped in linen bandages.
    — Anne Doran, ARTnews.com, 13 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 24 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

How to Pronounce the Trickiest Menu Items

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Aug. 21

16 Glee-ridden Words from Schitt's Creek
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
alt-684346df967d5
Add A Letter Quiz Pick the letter that goes in the same spot in fou...
See All