Word.ws English Dictionary

elephants' graveyard

elephants' graveyard noun: a place where, according to legend, older elephants instinctively direct themselves when they reach a certain age, in order to die alone.

Noun

elephants' graveyard (plural elephants' graveyards)

  1. A place where, according to legend, older elephants instinctively direct themselves when they reach a certain age, in order to die alone.
  2. (broadly) A place where lost objects or people end up, and from which there is no escape.
    • John F. Williams, Paul Clifford. low rate, on the other hand may mean that the legal department is an "elephants' graveyard," from which no escape is possible.1984, John F. Williams, Career Preparation and Opportunities in International Law, page 94
    • I actually wonder for a moment if my kind has an elephants' graveyard where those of us free to do so withdraw as our lives dwindle down to the ninth one's final moments.1997, Carole Nelson Douglas, Cat with an Emerald Eye: A Midnight Louie Mystery, page 56

Forms of elephants' graveyard

pluralelephants' graveyards

Questions about elephants' graveyard

What does elephants' graveyard mean?
Elephants' graveyard means a place where, according to legend, older elephants instinctively direct themselves when they reach a certain age, in order to die alone.
What part of speech is elephants' graveyard?
Elephants' graveyard is a noun.
What is the plural of elephants' graveyard?
The plural of elephants' graveyard is elephants' graveyards.

Words near elephants' graveyard in the dictionary

  1. elephants
  2. elephants in the corner
  3. elephants in the room
  4. elephants' ear
  5. elephants' ears
  6. elephants' graveyard
  7. elephants' graveyards
  8. elephanty
  9. elepidote
  10. elepidotes
  11. Elermore Vale

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: elephants' graveyard (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.

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