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Definition of "epitaph" []

  • An inscription on a tombstone in memory of the one buried there. (noun)
  • A brief literary piece commemorating a deceased person. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "epitaph" in a sentence
  • "And her epitaph is delivered by Ben, who says without any hint of irony, “I guess the island was done with her.”"
  • "An epitaph is the inscription found on a tombstone that summarizes and memorializes the deceased."
  • "Author Nigel Rees brings to bear upon the strange and sometimes surprising world of the epitaph his formidable skills as an ‘archaeologist’ of the sources of quotation and phrases: each epitaph is explained and located, and its source and context described as fully as possible."