US /ˈdoʊlmən/ UK /ˈdəʊlmən/
noun Freq #210449

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    a prehistoric megalithic tomb formed from a large horizontal capstone supported by two or more upright stones, often originally covered by a mound

    Archaeologists found pottery fragments beside the entrance to the dolmen.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 noun · a prehistoric megalithic... portal tombcromlech
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Word family
Derived forms dolmenic
Related forms megalithcapstonebarrowmenhirpassage grave

Etymology

Borrowed from French dolmen, an antiquarian coinage traditionally explained from Breton taol ("table") + maen ("stone"). That compound is not the regular Breton formation, so the exact history of the French term remains disputed.

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