charnels

noun

variants also charnel houses
plural of charnel
as in tombs

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for charnels
  1. tombs
  2. vaults
  3. crypts
  4. coffins
Noun
  • Preliminary explorations indicate these burials were looted in antiquity; passages linking them are thought to have been made by ancient robbers moving between the tombs.
    — Anne Doran, ARTnews.com, 31 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 tombs
Noun
  • In the wake of Curry’s death, the Who Done It crew are begging Paramount to trawl its vaults and release the cut.
    — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 2 Sep. 2026
  • In true Joycean fashion, Ironweed wants both symbolism and naturalism, the elevated language of heaven’s vaults alongside the unadorned details of bodily filth.
    — Cynthia Zarin, Harpers Magazine, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of vaults
Noun
  • One captures a white concrete community mausoleum, its crypts often empty, like absent teeth cavities, its coffins stolen presumably for anything valuable inside.
    — John Hopewell, Variety, 6 Mar. 2026
  • In Culiacan, in neighboring Sinaloa state, home to a cartel of the same name, there is a cemetery known for its luxury crypts and mausoleums for one-time kingpins like Ignacio Coronel - an old associate of El Mencho - and Arturo Beltrán Leyva.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 3 Mar. 2026
Definition of crypts
Noun
  • But the situation is far more tragic, with videos on social media showing dozens of coffins lined up beside mass graves, awaiting burial before the bodies decompose in the heat.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Sep. 2026
  • After the church service, the crowd climbed up a steep hill and followed the hearses transporting the coffins to a nearby cemetery.
    — Evens Sanon, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of coffins
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.

Browse Nearby Words

charnel
charnels
charred
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Cite this Entry

“Charnels.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/charnels. Accessed 8 Sep. 2026.

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