Meaning & use
funeral home
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A business with a building where dead bodies are kept and prepared, and where funerals may be arranged or held.
Grammar: Countable: a funeral home, several funeral homes.
Patterns
- at a funeral home
- go to the funeral home
The family gathered at the funeral home before the service.
He works at a funeral home on the edge of town.
Visiting hours at the funeral home are from six to eight.
Word forms
| plural | funeral homes |
|---|
Common combinations
- a local funeral home
- A local funeral home handled all the arrangements.
- the funeral home chapel
- The ceremony was held in the funeral home chapel.
- call the funeral home
- You should call the funeral home first thing in the morning.
- funeral home director
- The funeral home director answered all our questions patiently.
Synonyms and how they differ
- funeral parlour
- The British equivalent; it means the same kind of business but is not used much in the US.
- mortuary
- More formal and often refers to the place where bodies are kept, especially in a hospital.
Word family
- funeral noun
- The ceremony that takes place after a death.
- funeral director noun
- The person who runs a funeral home and arranges funerals.
Commonly confused: funeral home or mortuary?
funeral home vs mortuary
A mortuary is usually a room or building where dead bodies are stored, often in a hospital; a funeral home is a business that arranges funerals as well.
Practice
In American English, where would you go to arrange a funeral and view the body before burial?
Choose one answer.
'Funeral home' is the standard American term for the business and building. 'Funeral director' is the person, 'mortuary' often means a storage place, and a 'cemetery' is where the body is buried.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “funeral home”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.