variants
or necropoles
or necropoleis
or necropoli
as in cemeteries
a piece of land used for burying the dead
an ancient necropolis that has given archaeologists valuable insights into how people once lived and died
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Recent Examples of necropolises
Other necropolises stem from whale falls (that is, the sudden arrival of a whale carcass on the ocean floor), but their origins appear to be shaped by forces unique to oceans themselves.
—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
18 June 2026
The Etruscans often interred their deceased in necropolises, which is where the Sapienza University team recovered 30 teeth from 10 individuals who died during the 7th and 6th centuries.
—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
14 Jan. 2026
Encyclopedia Britannica,
18 June 2026
The Etruscans often interred their deceased in necropolises, which is where the Sapienza University team recovered 30 teeth from 10 individuals who died during the 7th and 6th centuries.
—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
14 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for necropolises
Noun
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University of Oxford ancient DNA researcher Ruairidh Macleod and his colleagues recently sequenced the telltale bacterial DNA in teeth from plague victims at four ancient cemeteries in the area around Russia’s Lake Baikal.
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Willerslev and other researchers looked for traces of plague-causing bacteria in remains from four cemeteries near Siberia's Lake Baikal.
Noun
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The largest and deepest of these whale graveyards was discovered in the Diamantina Fracture Zone—a deep-sea trench located about 1,400 km (about 870 miles) off the coast of Western Australia in the Indian Ocean.
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These graveyards form when whale carcasses fall to the sea floor, becoming a sustaining snack for nearby critters.
Cite this Entry
“Necropolises.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/necropolises. Accessed 3 Jul. 2026.
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