English edit

Etymology edit

From Latin sepulcralis.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /səˈpʌlkɹəl/, /səˈpʊlkɹəl/

Adjective edit

sepulchral (comparative more sepulchral, superlative most sepulchral)

  1. Relating to a grave or to death; funereal.
  2. Suggestive of a grave or of death; gloomy; solemn.
    • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, [], →OCLC, part I, page 214:
      He alluded constantly to Europe, to the people I was supposed to know there - putting leading questions as to my acquaintances in the sepulchral city, and so on.
    • 1999, Cheryl Mendelson, Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House, New York: Scribner, →ISBN, page 6:
      Over and over I found myself visiting homes where the predominant feeling was sepulchral, dusty, and deserted []
  3. Having a hollow and deep sound.
    • 1995, Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: a Trilogy in Five Parts, →ISBN, page 367:
      'The Master of Krikkit,' said Slartibartfast again, and if his breathing had been sepulchral before, this time he sounded like someone in Hades with bronchitis.

Related terms edit

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