What is another word for ossuaries?

Pronunciation: [ˈɒsjuːəɹˌiz] (IPA)

Ossuaries refer to containers or receptacles used for the storage of human bones or skeletal remains after the flesh has decayed. Some synonyms for this word include bone boxes, charnel houses, crypts, sepulchers, tombs, and catacombs. Bone boxes are small ossuaries that can hold a few bones, while charnel houses, catacombs, and crypts are larger and can hold many remains. Sepulchers and tombs have a more sophisticated feel as they are used to bury respected members of the society. These words are often used interchangeably and evoke a sense of the macabre, but ossuaries have been used for centuries to store remains and honor the dead.

What are the hypernyms for Ossuaries?

A hypernym is a word with a broad meaning that encompasses more specific words called hyponyms.

Usage examples for Ossuaries

After all the labour of antiquary and the poet, nothing remains to be uttered but such moralisings as Sir Thomas Browne poured forth over the urns discovered at Old Walsingham: 'What time the persons of these ossuaries entered the famous nations of the dead, and slept with princes and counsellors, might admit a wide solution.
"Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Vol III."
John Symonds
The catacombs of Naples and Paris afford examples of burial ossuaries.
"A further contribution to the study of the mortuary customs of the North American Indians First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1879-80, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1881, pages 87-204"
H. C. Yarrow
The chief function of the Temple was a temporary storage place for the important dead, before permanent burial in ossuaries or mounds.
"Virginia Architecture in the Seventeenth Century"
Henry Chandlee Forman

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