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mausoleum

UK/ˌmɔː.zəˈliː.əm/US/ˌmɔ.səˈli.əm/
nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,930 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: mausoleums, mausolea

A mausoleum is a grand building put up to hold a tomb. A family mausoleum.

It is a building rather than a grave, and it is meant to be entered. The word is also used of any large gloomy building, which is a joke every guide makes.

Jona Lendering · CC0

Definitions of mausoleum

  1. 1nounmausoleumA grand building put up to hold a tomb.B2+

    “The mausoleum held eleven generations of one family.”

mausoleum is a building.

Where it comes from

The word comes from the tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

  1. Ancient Greek

    Μαυσωλεῖον — Mausoleum, the grand tomb built around 353–351 BCE at Halicarnassus for Mausolus, a ruler of Caria and satrap of the Achaemenid Empire; one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

  2. Latin

    Mausōlēum

  3. Middle English

    mausoleum

  4. English, today

    mausoleum

From Middle English mausoleum, from Latin Mausōlēum, from Ancient Greek Μαυσωλεῖον (“Mausoleum, the grand tomb built around 353–351 BCE at Halicarnassus for Mausolus, a ruler of Caria and satrap of the Achaemenid Empire; one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World”), from Μαύσωλος + -εῖον. by surface analysis, Mausolus + -eum.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

mausoleum in the wild

  • The Taj Mahall]; lit. 'Crown of the Palace') is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India.

    Taj Mahal

  • Construction of the mausoleum was completed in 1648, although work on other parts of the complex continued for another five years.

    Taj Mahal

  • A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph.

    Mausoleum

  • A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb, or the tomb may be considered to be within the mausoleum.

    Mausoleum

  • Lenin's Mausoleum, also known as Lenin's Tomb, is a mausoleum located at Red Square in Moscow, Russia.

    Lenin's Mausoleum

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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.