charnel housenoun [ C ]
uk/ˈtʃɑː.nəl ˌhaʊs/us/ˈtʃɑːr.nəl ˌhaʊs/old usea building where the bodies of dead people are kept
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Places where bodies are buried or cremated
- burial ground
- catacomb
- cemetery
- churchyard
- crematorium
- crypt
- grave
- graveside
- graveyard
- mausoleum
- necropolis
- pyre
- resting place
- sepulchre
- the Pyramids
- tomb
- vault
Examples from literature
- By Monday the city reeked with the smell of a charnel house and pestilence was in the air.
- Indians always removed their dead, yet seemingly this place was a perfect charnel house, heaped with slain.
- On the evening after a frightful battle, they were all three in the charnel house where the dead bodies are brought.
- The perfume of them sickened Anna, as the odor of a charnel house might have done.
- The summit stopped being a battle field to become a charnel house.