as in tombstones
a shaped stone laid over or erected near a grave and usually bearing an inscription to identify and preserve the memory of the deceased
we love to tour old cemeteries and read the hauntingly poetic inscriptions on the gravestones
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Recent Examples of gravestones
The Gothic spires of Holy Trinity Abbey pierce the drifting clouds, while the Augustinian Friary—a 14th-century monastic retreat founded by the Earls of Kildare—sleeps among yews and whispering gravestones.
—
Lewis Nunn, Forbes.com, 24 Aug. 2025
Services at the gravestones of Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson are among many that take place before 9am.
—David Nikel, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2025
Nineteenth-century gravestones that turned out to be half-buried had surprises waiting just below the surface, such as sculptures of squirrels and dragons that looked unfamiliar on Polish Jewish graves, said Wrzosinski.
—Shira Li Bartov, Sun Sentinel, 27 Feb. 2025
Their lives were modest and so were their graves, marked not with expensive granite but with wooden crosses or metal markers in the shape of traditional gravestones.
—Maria Cramer, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2025
The couple’s gravestones will be by a willow tree at the edge of the pond.
—Virginia Chamlee, People.com, 29 Dec. 2024
The gravestones are numbered to reflect the burial system that was developed to properly inter hundreds of victims whose bodies were never claimed or identified.
—Jennifer Jett, NBC News, 26 Dec. 2024
Lewis Nunn, Forbes.com, 24 Aug. 2025
Services at the gravestones of Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson are among many that take place before 9am.
—David Nikel, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2025
Nineteenth-century gravestones that turned out to be half-buried had surprises waiting just below the surface, such as sculptures of squirrels and dragons that looked unfamiliar on Polish Jewish graves, said Wrzosinski.
—Shira Li Bartov, Sun Sentinel, 27 Feb. 2025
Their lives were modest and so were their graves, marked not with expensive granite but with wooden crosses or metal markers in the shape of traditional gravestones.
—Maria Cramer, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2025
The couple’s gravestones will be by a willow tree at the edge of the pond.
—Virginia Chamlee, People.com, 29 Dec. 2024
The gravestones are numbered to reflect the burial system that was developed to properly inter hundreds of victims whose bodies were never claimed or identified.
—Jennifer Jett, NBC News, 26 Dec. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gravestones
Noun
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Two tombstones have gone viral on Reddit after users noticed a striking difference between the way a husband and wife were memorialized.—
Lydia Patrick,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Aug. 2025
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His people had been in the area since the early nineteenth century, and the tombstones were worn and covered in lichen.—
Lawrence Wright,
The New Yorker,
29 Dec. 2024
Noun
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During perestroika, the city regained its historical name of Mairupol, and Ukrainian authorities demolished Zhdanov city monuments.—
Yegor Mostovshikov,
The Dial,
9 Sep. 2025
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At the time, the Czech capital still held traces of Kafka’s era; now, Prague serves almost like a shrine to the author, with an official museum and several monuments around town, which range from iconic to kitsch in her view.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
7 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Gravestones.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gravestones. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
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