potter's field
noun
: a public burial place for paupers, unknown persons, and criminals
Synonyms
- boneyard
- cemetery
- God's acre
- graveyard
- memorial park
- necropolis
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
criminals and unidentified people are sometimes buried in a potter's field
Recent Examples on the Web City officials announced last April that a potter's field for the poor and unclaimed on Hart Island would be used to bury victims of the virus. 
Mirna Alsharif And Ray Sanchez, CNN, 7 May 2021 Dina Maniotis, a deputy commissioner with the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, told a city council committee on Wednesday that many of the bodies held at the 39th Street Pier could end up buried in the city's potter's field on Hart Island. CBS News, 7 May 2021 In 2012, the city spent $120,000 to help preserve the historic Cementerio Lindo, a potter's field near 15th and Durango avenues, which dates from the 1890s and covers 10 times more area than Sotelo-Heard. John D'anna, azcentral, 11 Jan. 2020 Music Hall was built over a potter's field, a place where immigrants and the poor who had died without identification were buried. Briana Rice, Cincinnati.com, 17 Oct. 2019 Bolden was buried in Holt Cemetery, a potter's field in New Orleans. NOLA.com, 24 Jan. 2018
Mirna Alsharif And Ray Sanchez, CNN, 7 May 2021 Dina Maniotis, a deputy commissioner with the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, told a city council committee on Wednesday that many of the bodies held at the 39th Street Pier could end up buried in the city's potter's field on Hart Island. CBS News, 7 May 2021 In 2012, the city spent $120,000 to help preserve the historic Cementerio Lindo, a potter's field near 15th and Durango avenues, which dates from the 1890s and covers 10 times more area than Sotelo-Heard. John D'anna, azcentral, 11 Jan. 2020 Music Hall was built over a potter's field, a place where immigrants and the poor who had died without identification were buried. Briana Rice, Cincinnati.com, 17 Oct. 2019 Bolden was buried in Holt Cemetery, a potter's field in New Orleans. NOLA.com, 24 Jan. 2018 Word History
Etymology
from the mention in Matthew 27:7 of the purchase of a potter's field for use as a graveyard
First Known Use
1777, in the meaning defined above
potter's fields
noun
as in cemeteries
a piece of land used for burying the dead criminals and unidentified people are sometimes buried in a potter's field Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- cemeteries
- necropoles
- memorial parks
- necropoleis
- necropoli
- graveyards
- God's acres
- necropolises
- churchyards
- boneyards
- tombs
- catacombs
- mausoleums
- sepulchers
- vaults
- sepultures
- crypts
- sepulchres
- mausolea
- graves