burials

noun

plural of burial
1
as in funerals
the act or ceremony of putting a dead body in its final resting place the children wanted to give the dead bird a proper burial in the backyard

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in tombs
a final resting place for a dead person archaeologically significant artifacts, such as stone tools, have been discovered in Neanderthal burials

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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 burials Mass burials of unidentified bodies in Kathmandu In Kathmandu, police worked in heavy rain on Tuesday to bury dozens of bodies in multiple trenches next to a forested area. — Shristi Kafle, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2026 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 Ruby Chaudhary, who has two missing relatives, said the burials should not proceed without families’ consent. — ABC News, 30 Aug. 2026 Authorities in Nepal have begun mass burials of hundreds of unidentified victims whose bodies had started to decompose. — James Powel, USA Today, 30 Aug. 2026 According to a 2016 Courier Journal report, Greenwood Cemetery largely closed to new burials in 1993 after fraudulent practices came to light by the previous owner, Louisville Crematories and Cemeteries, Inc. — Caroline Neal, Louisville Courier Journal, 28 Aug. 2026 The burial ground was likely Protestant due to a complete absence of devotional items, such as crosses and medals characteristic of Catholic burials. — Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026 For instance, the earliest burials from the 25th Dynasty were of individual burials (mummies 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17) with men and women often separated, although the authors caution against reading too much into that evidence. — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 18 Aug. 2026 In the padres’ careful records, burials far outstripped baptisms. — Literary Hub, 29 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for burials
  1. funerals
  2. tombs
  3. graves
  4. cemeteries
Noun
  • Since then, the 65-year-old has only made public appearances at family events, including his parents' funerals and, most recently, the funeral of Britain's Duchess of Kent, Katharine, in September.
    — Anthony Robledo, USA Today, 30 Oct. 2025
Definition of funerals
Noun
  • 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
  • There has been prior research on the reuse of tombs in Thebes.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of tombs
Noun
  • The dead from Srebrenica were bulldozed into mass graves over four days in July 1995, some of them dug up and relocated to remote mountains so as to hide evidence of the killings.
    — Ivana Sekularac, USA Today, 27 Aug. 2026
  • These included a child buried face down, a skeleton positioned as in a crucifixion, graves with stones placed around the skull as if to prevent biting or movement, as well as other graves with sickles and padlocks.
    — Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of graves
Noun
  • These monuments did not include religious symbols and were built outside of cemeteries and churches.
    — Shannon Fogg, The Conversation, 26 Aug. 2026
  • While padlocks have been found at Jewish cemeteries in Poland, the study authors noted the site carried no other characteristic features suggesting this was a Jewish grave.
    — Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of cemeteries

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Cite this Entry

“Burials.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/burials. Accessed 4 Sep. 2026.

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