tombstones

noun

plural of tombstone
as in monuments
a shaped stone laid over or erected near a grave and usually bearing an inscription to identify and preserve the memory of the deceased the historic cemetery's many tombstones marking the graves of children are telling reminders of the harshness of pioneer life

Synonyms & Similar 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 tombstones The skies are gloomy and overcast, fitting for a trip among the tombstones. — Angie Martoccio, Rolling Stone, 18 June 2026 By day the place was filled with different sorts of tombstones, many of them inside ornamental enclosures. — Literary Hub, 13 Feb. 2026 Workmen are erecting identical marble tombstones. — ABC News, 25 Apr. 2026 Their names are listed in the African American Museum’s exhibit, but not at the cemetery as there are no tombstones left there – except for a few. — Dallas Morning News, 31 Jan. 2026 The Pontiac Gazette newspaper in Oakland County reported storm damage included apple and peach trees uprooted or twisted, churches destroyed, and cemetery tombstones blown down. — Paula Wethington, CBS News, 26 May 2026 Last year, the City Council approved an ordinance to offer rewards for information involving theft of city plaques, tombstones, statues, light standards, and copper wire, and theft of metals linked to the Sixth Street Bridge. — City News Service, Daily News, 18 Feb. 2026 The veil of past and present, for example, takes an abstract turn in Altar I, while Todos los santos (Para subir al Cielo) shows a cemetery with various cross-shaped tombstones, with a ladder leaning on a wall spectrally overlaid on the image. — Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews.com, 22 May 2026 In 1975, the museum purchased his work Georgia Gate, a structure of fluidly bent pine staves inspired by photos of Georgia tombstones the artist saw in musicologist Marshall Stearns’s 1970 book The Story of Jazz. — News Desk, Artforum, 8 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tombstones
  1. monuments
  2. stones
  3. gravestones
  4. headstones
  5. plaques
Noun
  • All over the globe, whether in distant seaports, capitals, mega-cities, villages, town squares, or central parks, prominent monuments to various individuals from history are featured.
    — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 6 July 2026
  • Visitors can also learn about the cemetery’s historic monuments, artistic stone carvings and the preservation efforts that help protect the important cultural resource.
    — Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 5 July 2026
Definition of monuments
Noun
  • The bride wore a custom Oscar de la Renta gown featuring 14 yards of Chantilly lace appliqués and hand-embroidered with pearls and diamanté stones.
    — Britt Hayes, Entertainment Weekly, 2 July 2026
  • Each piece is unique, made with tools such as vintage letterpress stamps, Japanese glass seed beads, and the maker’s personal collection of precious and semiprecious stones.
    — RS Editors, Rolling Stone, 2 July 2026
Definition of stones
Noun
  • Many of the gravestones were moved to Alder Brook and West Cemetery and remain there today.
    — Sarah Kyrcz, Hartford Courant, 28 June 2026
  • Haunted Mansion props on the parade floats will include the conservatory casket, cryptic gravestones, gargoyle candleholders, haunted armor and stretching room portraits, according to the concept art.
    — Brady MacDonald, Oc Register, 2 June 2026
Definition of gravestones
Noun
  • While dismantling the graveyard, in 1824, the headstones were removed, but the bodies remained.
    — Sarah Kyrcz, Hartford Courant, 28 June 2026
  • Hudspeth and other volunteers took over the cleanup by picking up leaves and fallen branches and cleaning broken and toppled headstones.
    — Kamal Morgan, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 June 2026
Definition of headstones
Noun
  • When activated, those cells begin clearing away existing amyloid plaques, a process that was associated with reduced plaque buildup and improved cognitive function, the study found.
    — Kelly McGreal, FOXNews.com, 3 Feb. 2026
  • And in mice with more advanced conditions, with unstable plaques that are more likely to rupture, treatment reduced the plaque size by 52%.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 26 Aug. 2025
Definition of plaques

Browse Nearby Words

tombstone
tombstones
tomcat
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Tombstones.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tombstones. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on tombstones

Nglish: Translation of tombstones for Spanish Speakers

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!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of gambol

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

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?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

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

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

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
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All