cemetery

Alternative forms

• (archaic) cœmeterium, cœmetery
• (misspelling) cemetary

Etymology

From Middle English cimiterie, from Old French cimitiere, from Medieval Latin cimitērium, from Late Latin coemētērium, from Ancient Greek κοιμητήριον (koimētḗrion), from κοιμάω (koimáō, “I put to sleep”); compare cœmeterium. Displaced Old English līctūn.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛm.ɪˌtɹi/, /ˈsɛm.əˌtɹi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛm.ɪˌtɛɹ.i/, /ˈsɛm.əˌtɛɹ.i/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈsem.ɘˌtʃɹi/, /ˈsem.ɘˌtiəɹ.i/
• (African-American Vernacular) IPA^(key): [ˈsɪm.əˌtɛ.ɪ]

Noun

cemetery (plural cemeteries)

2. A place where the dead are buried; a graveyard or memorial park.
   • 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter II, in The Last Man. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:

     The plain around was interspersed with cemeteries, Turk, Greek, and Armenian, with their growth of cypress trees...

   • 1970, Kazimierz Godłowski, “The chronology of the Late Roman and early migration periods in Central Europe”, in Acta scientiarum litterarumque: Schedae archeologicae‎, Nakładem Uniwersytetu Jagiellonśkiego, page 22:

     They were probably the work of individual craftsmen working to meet the chieftains' needs. Their place in the chronology of the big cemeteries is indicated by the less richly-decorated double-springed bronze brooches which are found here.

   • 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section III, page 26:

     […] the cemetery – which people of shattering wit like Sampson never tired of calling ‘the dead centre of town’ […]

See also