columbarium

noun

Definition of columbariumnext
as in mausoleum

Related 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 columbarium Later, the victims’ ashes were interred in a modest columbarium that the priest had built in a Catholic cemetery. — Sheila Coronel, The Atlantic, 13 Mar. 2026 And the columbarium would have been open to all Irvine residents, with priority given to veterans. — Victoria Le, Oc Register, 16 Jan. 2026 When the base closed, the land passed to the city of Alameda, but one corner was retained by the VA to build a new 158,000-square-foot outpatient clinic and columbarium as a final resting place for Bay Area veterans. — John Ramos, CBS News, 16 Dec. 2025 And columbaria – the plural for columbarium – are on the rise in the Diocese of Nashville. — Laura L. Davis, Nashville Tennessean, 27 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for columbarium
Recent Examples of Synonyms for columbarium
  1. mausoleum
  2. crypt
  3. vault
  4. catacomb
  5. tomb
  6. cemetery
  7. charnel
  8. burial
Noun
  • Under California’s Health and Safety Code, local governments can establish rules for burial, inurnment and entombment, as well as the maintenance of cemeteries, mausoleums and columbariums.
    — Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Her metal body is in Josephine Carrington’s mausoleum, alongside a mysterious grey machine.
    — Tasha Robinson, Vulture, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of mausoleum
Noun
  • Both in the opera and by contemporary accounts, Abraham entered his son’s crypt and had the casket opened on multiple occasions in the days after Willie died.
    — Neal Goren, Air Mail, 17 Oct. 2026
  • The grandiose panic room where Kate and Hal are locked down after the shooting was filmed in the crypt of a church on the Upper West Side.
    — Emily Zemler, Condé Nast Traveler, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of crypt
Noun
  • The finished basement has a family room, a stone fireplace, a bar, a wine cellar, a walk-in vault and additional entertaining space.
    — Lauryn Azu, Chicago Tribune, 27 Oct. 2026
  • Whether the Falcons’ decision-makers see Penix in the same light remains locked in a vault behind closed doors, but their sample size keeps growing in a year that needs to end with a firm answer on Penix’s future.
    — Daniel Flick, AJC.com, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of vault
Noun
  • During the tournament, access to the space, which is taking over a catacomb once used by players for warmups, has been floated at $120,000 per person.
    — Ben Ryder Howe, Curbed, 21 Aug. 2026
  • But passing motorists largely knew nothing of the collection of handmade replica of catacombs, Biblical scenes and Israelite villages beneath it.
    — Don Stacom, Hartford Courant, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of catacomb
Noun
  • This incredible necropolis is home to the tombs of the pharaohs and is a testament to the advanced engineering and architectural skills of the ancient Egyptians.
    — Jamie Carter, Space.com, 22 Oct. 2026
  • The historic Winter Palace hotel, where Howard Carter announced the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, is due to reopen in July as the Mandarin Oriental Winter Palace.
    — Maureen O'Hare, CNN Money, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of tomb
Noun
  • The Israelis bombed the cemetery where her friends were buried, leaving body parts and bones scattered for relatives to collect like a puzzle.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2026
  • The series focuses on a 13-year-old named Sophie, who mourns her grandfather Thomas every day in a Milan cemetery.
    — Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of cemetery
Noun
  • One is a charnel house dominated by Daniel Day-Lewis’s Bill the Butcher, a man with unnerving knife skills.
    — New York Times, New York Times, 10 Mar. 2026
  • This was also the case in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, which abandoned the novel’s complex (and, importantly, entertaining) moral quandaries in favor of a clock tower colossus doubling as a steam punk charnel house.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 25 Feb. 2026
Definition of charnel
Noun
  • The initiative already has identified burial sites and cemeteries tied to 40 youth correctional institutions in 29 states, with more than 1,000 children identified to date, leaders said.
    — Laura Bauer, Kansas City Star, 28 Oct. 2026
  • For Californians considering a more personal way to memorialize a loved one, a home burial might seem appealing.
    — Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of burial

Browse Nearby Words

columbaria
columbarium
column
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Columbarium.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/columbarium. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on columbarium

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about columbarium

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of shindig

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Pwn, Skibidi, Girlboss and Other Words Added to the 2026 Scrabble Dictionary

The Words of the Week - Oct. 30

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
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
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All