condolences

UK/kənˈdoʊlənsɪz/US/kənˈdoʊlənsɪz/

nounB2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechleans spokenformal · an editor’s judgement

Condolences are the words you offer somebody after a death. A card through the door, a handshake at the funeral, a quiet sentence that does not try to fix anything.

The word is almost always plural, and it travels with a verb: you offer, send, express or pass on your condolences. It sits at the formal end of sympathy — a letter of condolence from a company, a book of condolences opened at a town hall. In speech people shorten the whole business to my condolences, which is a complete sentence and does the job alone. The singular exists, but you will meet it mainly in that phrase a letter of condolence.

Definitions of condolences

1nouncondolencesSympathy offered to someone whose loved one has died.B2
“He sent his condolences to the family.”
synonyms: sympathy, commiserations

Phrases it lives in

my condolences — a set phrase said to someone who has been bereaved

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 23 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

condolences in the wild

A condolence book or book of condolence is a book in which people may record their condolences following a death or great tragedy.
Condolence book
After especially notable deaths, official records of the condolences may be compiled and reprinted.
Condolence book
When individuals condole, or offer their condolences to a particular situation or person, they are offering active conscious support of that person or activity.
Condolences
There are various ways of expressing condolences to the victims.
Condolences
Many world leaders, governments, international organisations, and individuals issued public condolences.
Death and state funeral of Lee Kuan Yew

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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