as in cemetery
a piece of land used for burying the dead
criminals and unidentified people are sometimes buried in a potter's field
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of potter's field
According to a 1951 Milwaukee Journal article, the potter's field was the burial site of many victims of the city's 1849-1850 cholera epidemic, which was estimated to have killed as many as 700 of the city's then-20,000 residents.
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Claire Reid, Journal Sentinel, 11 Oct. 2024
The island is not only the largest potter's field in the U.S., but it is also believed to be the single largest AIDS burial site, according to the NYC Parks Department.
—Kiara Alfonseca, ABC News, 1 Dec. 2023
The family lived down the street from the potter's field where the boy was first buried, and placed flowers there on holidays.
—Maryclaire Dale, USA TODAY, 14 Jan. 2023
Claire Reid, Journal Sentinel, 11 Oct. 2024
The island is not only the largest potter's field in the U.S., but it is also believed to be the single largest AIDS burial site, according to the NYC Parks Department.
—Kiara Alfonseca, ABC News, 1 Dec. 2023
The family lived down the street from the potter's field where the boy was first buried, and placed flowers there on holidays.
—Maryclaire Dale, USA TODAY, 14 Jan. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for potter's field
Noun
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Stoughton man Camryn Guillaume was regularly dealing narcotics in a Randolph cemetery, police said.—
Rick Sobey,
Boston Herald,
16 Sep. 2025
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In Florida, the Heritage Monitoring Scouts visit archaeological sites, including cemeteries, forts and mills, to record any impacts after extreme weather events.—
Yasemin Saplakoglu,
Quanta Magazine,
15 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Grey’s son, Loren Grey, restored his father’s original ending in the novel’s 1982 Pocket Books reprint, but the vanishing mythos remains intact, with the last of the tribe wistfully following Curtis’s Navajo into the temporal graveyard of the past.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 Sep. 2025
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But even without European football, and after a decade in which Old Trafford has at times resembled a graveyard for promising careers, the lure of Manchester United — in terms of glamour, prestige and finance — remains powerful.—
Oliver Kay,
New York Times,
4 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Potter's field.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/potter%27s%20field. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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