funeral
nounadjectivecommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈfjuː.nə.ɹəl//
- United Kingdom//ˈfjuːn.ɹəl//
- United States//ˈfju.nəɹ.əl//
- United States/[fjɪu̯.nɚəl]/
A ceremony to honor and remember a deceased person, often distinguished from a memorial service by the presence of the body of the deceased.
noun
- 1
A ceremony to honor and remember a deceased person, often distinguished from a memorial service by the presence of the body of the deceased.
Many mourners turned up at the local artist's funeral to pay homage.
- 2
datedA funeral sermon.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French funerailles pl (“funeral rites”), from Medieval Latin fūnerālia (“funeral rites”), originally neuter plural of Late Latin fūnerālis (“having to do with a funeral”), from Latin fūnus (“funeral, death, corpse”), origin unknown, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰew- (“to die”). Singular and plural used interchangeably in English until circa 1700. The adjective funereal is first attested 1725, by influence of Middle French funerail, from Latin funereus, from funus. First attested in 1437. Displaced native Old English līcþeġnung (literally “dead body service”).
adjective
- 1
Variant of funerealAlternative spelling of funereal.
All was funeral gloom and hope never whispered its cheering promises there.
Indeed I felt it altogether beautiful; and, as the "dying day-hymn stole aloft," the dim sun-beams fell, through a vista of naked motionless trees, upon the coffin, which was borne with a slower and more funeral pace than before, in a manner that threw a solemn and visionary light upon the whole procession.
There was something dramatic and theatrical in the very funeral ceremonies with which Demetrius was honored.
The very funeral pageantry disguised behind-the-scenes struggles for control over Sidney's image.
Forms
- plural
- funerals
- comparative
- more funeral
- superlative
- most funeral
funeral · A ceremony to honor and remember a deceased person, often distinguished from a memorial service by the presence of the body of the deceased.
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