epitaph

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epitaph

inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument; words in praise of the deceased

Not to be confused with:

epithet – a word or phrase applied to a person to describe a quality; nickname; sobriquet; designation; a curse or insult

ep·i·taph

(ĕp′ĭ-tăf′)

1. An inscription on a tombstone in memory of the one buried there.

2. A brief literary piece commemorating a deceased person.

[Middle English, from Old French epitaphe, from Latin epitaphium, from Greek epitaphion, from neuter of epitaphios, funerary : epi-, epi- + taphos, tomb.]

ep′i·taph′ic adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

epitaph

(ˈɛpɪˌtɑːf; -ˌtæf)

1. a commemorative inscription on a tombstone or monument

2. a speech or written passage composed in commemoration of a dead person

3. a final judgment on a person or thing

[C14: via Latin from Greek epitaphion, from epitaphios over a tomb, from epi- + taphos tomb]

epitaphic adj

ˈepiˌtaphist n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ep•i•taph

(ˈɛp ɪˌtæf, -ˌtɑf)

n.

1. a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument about the person buried at that site.

2. a brief composition in commemoration or praise of a deceased person.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Latin epitaphium < Greek epitáphion, n. use of neuter of epitáphios over or at a tomb]

ep`i•taph′ic (-ˈtæf ɪk) adj.

epitaph

- From Greek epi, "upon, over," and taphos, "tomb" or "funeral."

epitaph

1. an inscription on a monument, as on a gravestone.
2. a short piece of prose or verse written in honor of a dead person. — epitaphial, epitaphian, epitaphic, adj.

epitaph

A eulogy commemorating the dead.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	epitaph - an inscription on a tombstone or monument in memory of the person buried there inscription, lettering - letters inscribed (especially words engraved or carved) on something
	2.	epitaph - a summary statement of commemoration for a dead person memorial, remembrance, commemoration - a recognition of meritorious service

epitaph

noun commemoration, inscription, elegy, engraving, obituary His words are carved as his epitaph on the headstone of his grave.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

كِتابَه على ضَريح

gravskrift

Epitaph Grabschrift

epitafio

sírfelirat

epitaphio

grafskrift; eftirmæli

epitaffio

エピタフ

epitafija

epitāfija, kapa uzraksts

epitafium

epitaf

epitaph

[ˈepɪtɑːf] N → epitafio m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

epitaph

[ˈɛpɪtɑːf] n → épitaphe f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

epitaph

n → Epitaph nt; (on grave also) → Grabinschrift f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

epitaph

[ˈɛpɪtɑːf] n → epitaffio

epitaph

(ˈepitaːf) noun

something written or said about a dead person, especially something written on a tombstone.

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References in classic literature ?

The Story Girl had brought flowers for her mother's grave as usual, and while she arranged them on it the rest of us read for the hundredth time the epitaph on Great-Grandfather King's tombstone, which had been composed by Great-Grandmother King.

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Jansenius's helped him to compose an epitaph, and added to it a couple of pretty and touching stanzas, setting forth that Henrietta's character had been one of rare sweetness and virtue, and that her friends would never cease to sorrow for her loss.

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A proof of the infallibility of the foregoing receipt, in the lamentations of the widow; with other suitable decorations of death, such as physicians, &c., and an epitaph in the true stile.

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He died October 29th, 1792, aged 84 years.' There's an epitaph for you, Prissy.

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Caught on the flank, by the Rue Saint- Pierre-aux-Boeufs, and in the rear through the Rue du Parvis, driven to bay against Notre-Dame, which they still assailed and Quasimodo defended, at the same time besiegers and besieged, they were in the singular situation in which Comte Henri Harcourt, Taurinum obsessor idem et obsessus , as his epitaph says, found himself later on, at the famous siege of Turin, in 1640, between Prince Thomas of Savoy, whom he was besieging, and the Marquis de Leganez, who was blockading him.

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And this was the epitaph of a dead dog on the Northland trail--less scant than the epitaph of many another dog, of many a man.

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But he, who would henceforth be dead to his native land, would have no epitaph save scornful and vindictive words.

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(Punch, it may be remarked, seemed to be pointing with the tip of his cap to a most flourishing epitaph, and to be chuckling over it with all his heart.)

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Now Xanthus and Gorgus, son of Midas the king, heard his epics and invited him to compose a epitaph for the tomb of their father on which was a bronze figure of a maiden bewailing the death of Midas.

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I wish my epitaph may tell the truth about me if the man did not answer up at once, and say he would go and borrow a board as soon as he had lit the pipe which he was filling.

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They closed the grave with a heavy stone until a slab was ready which Ambrosio said he meant to have prepared, with an epitaph which was to be to this effect:

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Wonderfullest things are ever the unmentionable; deep memories yield no epitaphs; this six-inch chapter is the stoneless grave of Bulkington.