epitaph

[ep-i-taf, -tahf]

noun

1. a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument about the person buried at that site.

2. a brief poem or other writing in praise of a deceased person.

verb (used with object)

1. to commemorate in or with an epitaph.

epitaph

/ ˌɛpɪˈtæfɪk, -ˌtæf, ˈɛpɪˌtɑːf /

noun

1. a commemorative inscription on a tombstone or monument

2. a speech or written passage composed in commemoration of a dead person

3. a final judgment on a person or thing

Other Word Forms

• epitaphic adjective
• epitaphist noun
• epitaphless adjective
• unepitaphed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of epitaph¹

1350–1400; Middle English epitaphe < Latin epitaphium < Greek epitáphion over or at a tomb, equivalent to epi- epi- + táph ( os ) tomb + -ion noun, adj. suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of epitaph¹

C14: via Latin from Greek epitaphion, from epitaphios over a tomb, from _epi- + taphos tomb

Example Sentences

If we were to assign his TV father an epitaph, he could do a lot worse than the unvarnished speech that closes the first season.

From Salon

The circumstances of the child’s death are eventually established as being bizarre and farcical, and along with a recurring gag involving the epitaph on her little headstone, it’s all supposed to be hilarious.

From Salon

A fitting epitaph for a man whose legacy was not just business, but quiet defiance, compassion, and conviction.

From BBC

Yet when it was enacted, it served as the legal epitaph to Reconstruction — and a preface to Jim Crow.

From Los Angeles Times

The coroner’s report and epitaph of American democracy will likely include a sentence that “the Democrats were very polite as American democracy died.”

From Salon

Related Words

• elegy 
• eulogy