Dictionary

cenotaph en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈsɛn.əˌtæf/ (UK)
• (US) audio
• /ˈsɛn.əˌtɑːf/ (UK)
• /ˈsɛn.əˌtæf/ (General-American)

Etymology

From French cénotaphe, from Ancient Greek κενός (kenós, “empty”) + τάφος (táphos, “tomb”). By surface analysis ceno- + -taph.

Meanings

1. A monument, generally in the form of an empty tomb, erected to honour the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere, especially members of the armed forces who died in battle.
   • A cenotaph was erected for him in Gaul, while his body was taken to Rome and inclosed in a magnificent tomb.
   • A tomb from which the body is absent, living elsewhere. The grave whose headstone bore the famous inscription, Here lies me two children dear One in ould Ireland, t'other one here. was a cenotaph, so far as regarded the "One in ould Ireland". 1967, Ambrose Bierce, “cenotaph”, in Ernest Jerome Hopkins, editor, The Enlarged Devil’s Dictionary […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, →OCLC, page 37:
   • […] tombs and cenotaphs were strewed thick around adorned by every renewing vegetation; […] 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in The Last Man. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
   • But age is heart-wearied and tempest-torn: it is the crumbling cenotaph of fear and hope! 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Age and Youth”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 7:
   • I am the daughter of Earth and Water, And the nursling of the Sky; I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die. For after the rain when with never a stain The pavilion of Heaven is bare, And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams Build up the blue dome of air, I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, And out of the caverns of rain, Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I arise and unbuild it again. 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Cloud:
   • On Remembrance Sunday (November 14), [...]. A special service was held at Ayr station that afternoon, to allow people to pay their respects after attending the Ayr cenotaph that morning. 2021 December 1, “Network News: Passengers observe two-minute silence”, in RAIL, number 945, page 11:

Forms

Deriveds

Cenotaph · cenotaphic · cellotaph

Translations (55)

pl cenotaf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · et mälestusmonument (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · ar الْقُبْر الْأُجُوف (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · be кенатаф (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · es cenotafio (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · da kenotaf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · eu zenotafio (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · fi muistohauta (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · cmn 衣冠冢 (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · fi kenotafi (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · ka კენოტაფი (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · nl cenotaaf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · hu kenotáfium (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · it cenotafio (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · ro cenotaf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · ko 위령비 (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · nb kenotaf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · fr cénotaphe (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · el κενοτάφιο (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · grc κενοτάφιον (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · nn kenotaf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · is minningargröf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · ky кенотаф (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · ja 慰霊碑 (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · cmn 衣冠墓 (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · ca cenotafi (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · cs kenotaf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · de Kenotaph (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · la cenotaphium (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · lb Kenotaph (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · az kenotaf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · et kenotaaf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · ta வெறுங்கல்லறை (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · he אנדרטה (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · sv skengrav (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · lv kenotāfs (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · io cenotafio (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · eo cenotafo (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · sl kenotaf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · sh kȅnotāf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · is minnisvarði (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · uk кенота́ф (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · ru кенота́ф (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · pt cenotáfio (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · vi mộ gió (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · lt kenotafas (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · bg кенота́ф (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · ltg kenotafs (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · sv kenotaf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · sh ке̏нота̄ф (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · de Scheingrab (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · fy senotaaf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · de Ehrenmal (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · sk kenotaf (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere) · lv piemeniklis (monument to honor the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere)