VocabularyBasePractice words

Meaning & use

hearse

noun·Everyday

Last updated

UK/hɜːs/
US/hɝːs/

Meaning

  1. nouncountable

    A long vehicle that carries a coffin to a funeral service or burial.

    Grammar: Refers to the vehicle only, not the funeral.

    Patterns

    • follow a hearse
    • ride in a hearse

    The hearse moved slowly down the high street.

    Cars followed the hearse to the cemetery.

    A black hearse waited outside the church.

Word forms

pluralhearses

Common combinations

funeral hearse
A funeral hearse led the procession.
horse-drawn hearse
They chose a horse-drawn hearse for the old-fashioned ceremony.
follow the hearse
The mourners followed the hearse in silence.
black hearse
A black hearse stood outside the house.
hearse driver
The hearse driver opened the rear door with care.

Synonyms and how they differ

funeral car
Funeral car is a plain, modern description, while hearse is the traditional name.
coach
Coach appears in phrases like funeral coach, mainly in the funeral trade.
cortege
A cortege is the whole procession, including the hearse, not the single vehicle.

Word family

bier noun
a stand that carries a coffin
funeral noun
the ceremony for a dead person
coffin noun
the box in which a body is buried
mortuary noun
a place where bodies are kept

Commonly confused: hearse or cortege?

hearse vs cortege

A cortege is the line of mourners and vehicles, not the vehicle that carries the coffin.

Practice

Which word names the vehicle that carries a coffin?

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “hearse”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Your sentence stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.

Explore more words