noun
mortuary
MAWT-shoor-ree
noun
1
A room or building where dead bodies are kept before a funeral or cremation.
"The pathologist examined the body in the hospital mortuary."
"Staff moved the remains to the mortuary overnight."
adj
1
Relating to death, burial, or funerals.
"The museum has a collection of mortuary art from ancient Egypt."
"Archaeologists study mortuary customs to understand how past societies treated their dead."
How to Use Mortuary
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA place for storing dead bodies before burial, or an adjective describing anything to do with death and funerals.
UK vs US
In the US, "morgue" is more common for a hospital storage room, while "funeral home" covers the business that handles services; British English uses "mortuary" for both the room and, less often, the whole facility.
Common pairings
hospital mortuary
mortuary rites
mortuary practices
Word Forms
mortuaries plural
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Etymology
From Anglo-Norman mortuarie, a gift traditionally owed to a parish priest when a parishioner died, itself from Latin mortuarius, "of the dead" — from morior, "to die."