cremation

UK/kɹɪˈmeɪʃən/US/kɹɪˈmeɪʃən/

nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,067 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: cremations

Cremation is reducing a body to ashes by fire. Choose cremation, after the cremation, a cremation service.

It is now the majority choice in Britain, Japan and much of Europe, though some faiths forbid it and others require it. What the family receives is not ash in the ordinary sense but ground bone. The Catholic Church permitted cremation only from 1963.

Definitions of cremation

1nouncremationReducing a body to ashes by fire.B2+
“After the cremation, the family scattered his ashes in the sea.”

cremation is a funeral practice.

Where it comes from

Latin crematio comes from cremare, to burn. The English word arrived in the nineteenth century with the movement itself.

Latin
cremātiō
English, today
cremation

Borrowed from Latin cremātiō; equivalent to cremate + ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Belief & Ritual

Practise this word

cremation in the wild

In modern times, cremation is commonly carried out with a closed furnace (cremator), at a crematorium.
Cremation
A crematorium, crematory or cremation center is a venue for the cremation of the dead.
Crematorium
In some countries a crematorium can also be a venue for open-air cremation.
Crematorium
The death care industry in the United States includes companies and organizations that provide services related to death: funerals, cremation or burial, and memorials.
Death care industry in the United States

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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