entomb

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

Also spelled intombed

US /ɛnˈtum/ UK /ɪnˈtuːm/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to place in a tomb; to bury or enclose as in a grave

The pharaohs were entombed with treasures for the afterlife.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to place in a tomb; to bury... bury interinhumesepulcher enshrine immure

Opposites

exhume disinter unearth

Word family

Forms entombment

Derived forms entombment

Related forms tomb

Etymology

From en- (causative) + tomb, from Old French tombe, from Late Latin tumba, from Ancient Greek tymbos ('burial mound, tomb').

tumba Latin τύμβος Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# entomb

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ɛnˈtum/
**IPA (UK):** /ɪnˈtuːm/

## Meanings
1. to place in a tomb; to bury or enclose as in a grave

## Examples
- The pharaohs were entombed with treasures for the afterlife.

## Synonyms
- bury
- inter
- inhume
- sepulcher
- enshrine
- immure

## Antonyms
- exhume
- disinter
- unearth

## Derived Forms
- entombment

## Related Forms
- tomb

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: tumba
- Root: τύμβος

## Etymology
From en- (causative) + tomb, from Old French tombe, from Late Latin tumba, from Ancient Greek tymbos ('burial mound, tomb').

## AI Etymology
Entomb comes from en- (causative) + tomb, from Old French tombe, from Late Latin tumba, from Ancient Greek tymbos ('burial mound, tomb'). Morphologically, the form is compositional, with the named elements combining to produce the modern spelling and sense. In present use, it is used as a verb meaning "to place in a tomb; to bury or enclose as in a grave", so the historical material remains connected with the current sense rather than standing as bare ancestry. The wider English family includes derivatives such as entombment and related forms such as tomb, showing how the same historical material continues to organize neighboring vocabulary. The named historical forms include Latin tumba and Ancient Greek τύμβος, keeping the history tied to concrete forms rather than a loose resemblance. Its semantic neighborhood is marked by bury, inter, inhume, and sepulcher on one side and contrasts such as exhume, disinter, and unearth on the other, locating the modern specialization without adding a new origin story.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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