burying-ground

A family visits the old burying-ground on a sunny afternoon.

Definition

Noun: A burying-ground is a piece of land used for burying the dead; a cemetery or graveyard.

Usage Examples

• (A historical cemetery.)
• (A place where graves are located.)

Advanced Usage

• "consecrated burying-ground": a burying-ground that has been officially blessed or set apart for religious burial.

  • Only members of the parish could be interred in the consecrated burying-ground. (A cemetery sanctified by the church.)

• "pauper's burying-ground": a burying-ground for people who died without money or family.

  • The unmarked graves in the pauper's burying-ground tell a sad story. (A cemetery for the poor.)

Variants and Related Words

• Burying-place (n): an alternative term for burying-ground.

  • The old burying-place was overgrown with ivy. (A cemetery.)

• Burial ground (n): a synonym for burying-ground, often used in formal contexts.

  • The ancient burial ground was discovered during construction. (A place for burying the dead.)

Synonyms

• Cemetery: a large burial ground, often not attached to a church.
• Graveyard: a burial ground, typically adjoining a church.
• Churchyard: the yard of a church, often used as a burial ground.
• Necropolis: a large, ancient cemetery (formal or historical term).

Related Idioms

• "to dig up the burying-ground": an expression meaning to disturb old memories or secrets (rare, figurative).
  • By asking about that old scandal, she felt she was digging up the burying-ground of the family's past. (Reviving painful or forgotten history.)