What does "tumulus" mean?

A mound of earth, especially one placed over a prehistoric tomb; a barrow.

What is a synonym for "tumulus"?

Common synonyms include: burial mound, barrow, burial, burial mound, burial mound § synonyms, burian.

//ˈtuːmjələs// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A mound of earth, especially one placed over a prehistoric tomb; a barrow.
"They planted the cannon on the tumuli, sole elevations in this level country, and formed themselves into column and hollow square."
2
(archeology) a heap of earth placed over prehistoric tombs wordnet

"They planted the cannon on the tumuli, sole elevations in this level country, and formed themselves into column and hollow square."

From Latin tumulus (“mound, hill”), from tumeō (“I swell”). Doublet of tombolo.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.