charnel house

Meanings

1. 1nouncountableold-fashioned

   A building or vault where human bones or dead bodies were stored, especially in the past.

   Grammar: Countable: an old charnel house, two charnel houses.

   Patterns

   • a charnel house of something
   • in a charnel house

   Monks stored the bones of the dead in a charnel house beneath the church.

   The archaeologists found a medieval charnel house beside the cathedral.

   Stories were told of ghosts that lingered in the charnel house.

2. 2nouncountablefigurativeliterary

   A place marked by great death, slaughter or destruction.

   Grammar: Figurative: the battlefield became a charnel house.

   Patterns

   • turn something into a charnel house

   The war turned the once peaceful valley into a charnel house.

   Reporters described the ruined town as a charnel house of burned buildings and silence.

Word forms

Common combinations

medieval charnel house

The medieval charnel house still stands in the churchyard.

a charnel house of bones

The cave was a charnel house of bones left by ancient hunters.

turn into a charnel house

The battlefield was turned into a charnel house.

charnel house stench

A charnel house stench hung over the old vault.

Synonyms and how they differ

ossuary

An ossuary is a respectful container or room for bones, while charnel house sounds darker and more gruesome.

morgue

A morgue is a modern place where bodies wait for identification or examination, while a charnel house is historical or figurative.

catacomb

Catacombs are underground burial tunnels, whereas a charnel house is typically a building.

Word family

charnel adjective

relating to death or the dead

carnage noun

great slaughter, from the same root meaning flesh

carnal adjective

relating to the body or flesh

Commonly confused: charnel house or mortuary?

Practice

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