Cenotaph
//ˈsɛn.əˌtæf// name, noun
name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 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."
- 2 a monument built to honor people whose remains are interred elsewhere or whose remains cannot be recovered wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A war memorial in Whitehall, London, England. UK
"Top Gear bosses have defended the show after it was criticised for filming scenes near the Cenotaph in central London."
Example
More examples"Within a grove Andromache that day, / where Simois in fancy flowed again, / her offerings chanced at Hector's grave to pay, / a turf-built cenotaph, with altars twain, / source of her tears and sacred to the slain – / and called his shade."
Etymology
From French cénotaphe, from Ancient Greek κενός (kenós, “empty”) + τάφος (táphos, “tomb”). By surface analysis ceno- + -taph.
Related phrases
More for "cenotaph"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.