Word of the Day

Wednesday, April 30, 2003

funereal

\fyoo-NIR-ee-uhl\ , adjective;

Of or pertaining to a funeral.

Suiting a funeral; solemn; dark; gloomy; mournful.

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Quotes:

But do I have to sound so funereal, so pontifically solemn?

-- Anatole Broyard, "(Enter Pound and Eliot)", New York Times, May 30, 1982

Where earlier the tone was funereal, now it consoles, uplifts.

-- Marguerite Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror

M. M. Graff . . . disapproved of these particular trees, accusing them of being "a gloomy black-green at best and made even more funereal by a coating of city soot."

-- Marie Winn, Red-Tails in Love

Origin:

Funereal comes from Latin funereus, from funus, funer-, "a funeral, a burial."