Word.ws English Dictionary

epitaphologist

epitaphologist noun: one who studies epitaphs.

Noun

epitaphologist (plural epitaphologists)

  1. (rare) One who studies epitaphs.
    • It would seem, indeed, that a doubly keen perception of the ludicrous had need to befriend any one who essays epitaph writing, lest he should be led to perorations like that which concludes an in memoriam to certain deceased members of / the ball family, / in Nuneaton churchyard: / When death shall...1870 December 1, “Epitaphs”, in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, volume 30, number 284, Brooklyn, N.Y., column 8
    • The second was some kind of professional student: his like were to be found in the patiently seated waiting lines of the career bureaus, always ready to file for some obscure and pointless occupation—numismatist, dressage instructor, Neurospora geneticist, epitaphologist, worm rancher.1974, Harlan Ellison, “Catman”, in Approaching Oblivion: Road Signs on the Treadmill Toward Tomorrow, New York, N.Y.: Walker and Company, page 156

Examples of epitaphologist in a sentence

  • The old stones, covered by wild dill and skunk cabbage, are an epitaphologist’s delight.1977 September 25, “Reopened Silver Mine Changing Population In Oregon Town; Slowly Bringing Old And New Ideas Together”, in The Sunday...
  • In a collection of epitaphs, the epitaphologist Lady Johnson-Ferguson noted that this was to be found upon a stone near Scotland’s highest railway station at Dalnaspidal.1990, Raymond Lamont-Brown, “What did they dae?”, in Scottish Epitaphs, Chambers, →ISBN, section “Dalnaspidal, Perthshire”, page 39:

Forms of epitaphologist

pluralepitaphologists

Origin of epitaphologist

From epitaphology + -ist.

Questions about epitaphologist

What does epitaphologist mean?
Epitaphologist means one who studies epitaphs.
How do you use epitaphologist in a sentence?
The old stones, covered by wild dill and skunk cabbage, are an epitaphologist’s delight.
What part of speech is epitaphologist?
Epitaphologist is a noun.
What is the plural of epitaphologist?
The plural of epitaphologist is epitaphologists.

Words near epitaphologist in the dictionary

  1. epitaphized
  2. epitaphizes
  3. epitaphizing
  4. epitaphless
  5. epitaphoi
  6. epitaphologist
  7. epitaphologists
  8. epitaphology
  9. epitaphs
  10. epitaphy
  11. epitarsus

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: epitaphologist (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:

Cite this entry: “epitaphologist.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/epitaphologist. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.