How to Use sarcophagus in a Sentence

sarcophagus

noun
  • The larnax was then placed in a sarcophagus and the tomb was sealed.
    — Myrto Papadopoulos, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 June 2020
  • The duke’s body was rolled up in a carpet and plopped in the sarcophagus.
    — New York Times, 30 May 2021
  • And the sarcophagus bears no name carved into the stone—just two lion heads.
    — Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 10 Oct. 2018
  • Plot details are being kept in the sarcophagus at this stage.
    — Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 27 Mar. 2026
  • Eight years later, she is found alive, wrapped up inside a sarcophagus.
    — Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 16 Apr. 2026
  • Swirling sands wrapped the dead trees in a natural sarcophagus.
    — Veronique Greenwood, New York Times, 6 Feb. 2024
  • There, layers of light green cloth cover a stone sarcophagus.
    — Literary Hub, 4 Mar. 2026
  • Check out the reliefs at the foot of Tutankhamun's sarcophagus.
    — Nada El Sawy, Condé Nast Traveler, 21 Nov. 2023
  • The flower pot turned out to be part of an ancient Roman sarcophagus.
    — Christine Hauser, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2017
  • There's a huge fourth-century stone sarcophagus at the top of this steep cobblestone street.
    — Lisa Morrow, CNN, 25 Apr. 2022
  • The sarcophagus was untouched by looters and sealed for centuries.
    — CBS News, 21 Nov. 2025
  • The lead sarcophagus had buckled from the weight of the church above it but was still sealed per the Daily Beast.
    — Jane Recker, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Mar. 2022
  • Orlok has been in his sarcophagus for at least a hundred years, probably closer to two.
    — Ryan Fleming, Deadline, 2 Dec. 2024
  • The metal Musk head crowned what looked like some Egyptian sarcophagus.
    — Lawrence Wright, The New Yorker, 6 Feb. 2023
  • Think outside the box, or rather, the sarcophagus, and take your crush to the closest museum to sniff the mummies.
    — Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 14 Feb. 2025
  • The sarcophagus was the work of an international coalition and took decades to build.
    — Daria Tarasova-Markina, CNN, 14 Feb. 2025
  • But standing intact is a familiar sarcophagus, which should never have been moved.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 Apr. 2026
  • Worry about the crumbling sarcophagus is compounded by a plan to turn the land around the site into a national park.
    — John Wendle, Scientific American, 21 Apr. 2016
  • The body of Khufu was instead likely placed in the king’s chamber, though the only piece still present is the sarcophagus.
    — Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 2 Sep. 2022
  • In an apse, near the site of the sarcophagus, is a sparkling mosaic of Jesus in reddish and gold robes sitting atop the orb of the world.
    — Elizabeth Dias, New York Times, 8 May 2025
  • Unit 4, meanwhile, was sealed with a crude sarcophagus that stood until 2016.
    — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 26 Apr. 2026
  • The rub is that she was recovered inside a 3,000-year-old sarcophagus.
    — Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 20 Apr. 2026
  • The sarcophagus found inside the tomb was also inscribed with the name of its occupant and his titles, according to the post.
    — Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 6 Jan. 2025
  • This prompts the parents to check on the ancient basalt sarcophagus in the archeological warren under the house.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 Apr. 2026
  • Inside the church, there was a deep trench into which the marble sarcophagus containing the relics of Germanus was to be lowered.
    — Peter Brown, The New York Review of Books, 24 Sep. 2020
  • In addition to the sarcophagus, the archeologists found an alabaster bust of a man that likely depicts the owner of the tomb.
    — Abigail Abrams, Time, 14 July 2018
  • In a burial shaft, this one 63 feet deep, a 20-ton sarcophagus the size of a Humvee and made of granite sits at the bottom.
    — Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post, 22 Apr. 2021
  • The shinning New Safe Confinement arch and the rusty sarcophagus, rise in the distance.
    — John Wendle, Scientific American, 21 Apr. 2016
  • Rather, this is a tale about how a modern co-working space serves as a strange sarcophagus to the vaudeville era and early 20th century Louisville.
    — Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 19 Feb. 2020
  • If that idea proves correct, the person presenting an offering to the gods in the final, central panel may be the same person buried in the large basalt sarcophagus found in the tomb.
    — Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 10 Oct. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sarcophagus.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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