Meaning & use
morgues
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“morgues” is a form of “morgue”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nouncountablemedical
Plural of morgue: places where dead bodies are kept until they are identified, examined or collected for burial.
Grammar: Always plural here; the singular is a morgue.
Patterns
- city morgues
- hospital morgues
Hospital morgues were overwhelmed during the flood.
Police visited several morgues to look for the missing man.
Large cities usually have more than one public morgue.
nouncountablespecialistrare
Plural of morgue in a newspaper: rooms holding old files, photographs and past articles for reference.
Grammar: A specialist journalism sense, now rare.
Patterns
- newspaper morgues
Old newspaper morgues hold photographs from every decade.
Reporters once searched the morgues for past stories.
Many morgues have been replaced by digital archives.
Word forms
| singular | morgue |
|---|
Common combinations
- hospital morgues
- Hospital morgues were filled beyond capacity.
- city morgues
- City morgues kept records of unidentified bodies.
- overflowing morgues
- Overflowing morgues forced officials to use refrigerated trucks.
- visit the morgues
- Officers visited the morgues to search for clues.
- newspaper morgues
- Newspaper morgues once stored clippings in metal cabinets.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mortuaries
- Mortuaries are places where bodies are prepared for burial, while morgues store bodies for identification or examination.
- funeral homes
- Funeral homes arrange funerals for families, whereas morgues are usually run by hospitals or authorities.
- chapels of rest
- A chapel of rest is a quiet room where a body can be visited before burial, unlike a morgue.
Word family
Commonly confused: morgues or mortuary?
morgues vs mortuary
A mortuary prepares and stores bodies before burial, while a morgue is more often a hospital or police facility for storing bodies during an investigation.
Practice
Police checked the ____ in three cities to try to identify the body.
Choose one answer.
Morgues are places where bodies are kept for identification. The other words sound similar but mean loans, powerful people and bowls or weapons.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “morgues”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.