cenotaph
UK/ˈsɛn.əˌtɑːf//ˈsɛn.əˌtæf/
cenotaph noun: a monument, generally in the form of an empty tomb, erected to honour the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere, especially members of the armed forces who died in battle.
Noun
cenotaph (plural cenotaphs)
- A monument, generally in the form of an empty tomb, erected to honour the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere, especially members of the armed forces who died in battle.
- A cenotaph was erected for him in Gaul, while his body was taken to Rome and inclosed in a magnificent tomb.
- […] tombs and cenotaphs were strewed thick around adorned by every renewing vegetation; […]1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in The Last Man. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC
Proper noun capitalized: Cenotaph
the Cenotaph
- A war memorial in Whitehall, London, England.
- Top Gear bosses have defended the show after it was criticised for filming scenes near the Cenotaph in central London.2016 March 14, “Top Gear bosses defend filming near Cenotaph memorial”, in The Guardian, sourced from Press Association, →ISSN
- Never has the Cenotaph, in its 103 years of standing sentry on Whitehall, been “defended” on Armistice Day by a Port Vale fan supping a can of Stella Artois.2023 November 11, Mark Townsend, “Far-right ‘defends’ the Cenotaph to the echo of home secretary’s words”, in The Observer, →ISSN
cenotaph meaning in Tamil, Kannada, Arabic and Vietnamese
cenotaph in Tamil
- monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
- வெறுங்கல்லறை veṟuṅkallaṟai
cenotaph in Kannada
- ಸ್ಮಾರಕ ಸಮಾಧಿ, ಶೂನ್ಯಸಮಾಧಿ
cenotaph in Arabic
- monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
- الْقُبْر الْأُجُوف al-qubr al-ʔujūf
cenotaph in Vietnamese
- monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere
- mộ gió
Examples of cenotaph in a sentence
- But age is heart-wearied and tempest-torn: it is the crumbling cenotaph of fear and hope!1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Age and Youth”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]...
- A special service was held at Ayr station that afternoon, to allow people to pay their respects after attending the Ayr cenotaph that morning.2021 December 1, “Network News: Passengers observe two-minute silence”, in RAIL, number 945, page 11:
Forms of cenotaph
| plural | cenotaphs |
|---|
Origin of cenotaph
From French cénotaphe, from Ancient Greek κενός (kenós, “empty”) + τάφος (táphos, “tomb”). By surface analysis ceno- + -taph.
Words formed from cenotaph
Questions about cenotaph
- What does cenotaph mean?
- Cenotaph means a monument, generally in the form of an empty tomb, erected to honour the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere, especially members of the armed forces who died in battle.
- What is cenotaph in Tamil?
- Cenotaph in Tamil is வெறுங்கல்லறை (veṟuṅkallaṟai). See Cenotaph meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use cenotaph in a sentence?
- But age is heart-wearied and tempest-torn: it is the crumbling cenotaph of fear and hope!
- What part of speech is cenotaph?
- Cenotaph can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce cenotaph?
- Cenotaph is pronounced /ˈsɛn.əˌtɑːf/ (UK).
- What is the plural of cenotaph?
- The plural of cenotaph is cenotaphs.
Words near cenotaph in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cenotaph (page history and authors); Cenotaph (page history and authors); cenotaph (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-cenotaph.ogg.
Cite this entry: “cenotaph.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cenotaph. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.