noun
mausoleum
maw-zuh-LEE-uhm
noun
1
A grand, freestanding tomb, or a building built to hold one or more such tombs.
"The president was laid to rest in a white marble mausoleum."
"Wealthy Victorian families often built elaborate mausoleums in the cemetery."
2
Informally, any large building or room that feels cold, silent, and lifeless.
"The old bank lobby, all marble and echoes, felt like a mausoleum."
"Their enormous house had become a mausoleum since the kids moved out."
How to Use Mausoleum
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA grand tomb — or, loosely, any big, silent, tomb-like space.
Common pairings
a marble mausoleum
built as a mausoleum
Word Forms
mausoleums plural, mausolea plural
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Etymology
From the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the immense tomb built around 350 BC for Mausolus, a ruler in ancient Asia Minor, and counted among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.