English Reference
Noun

tombstone

n. countable
B2 Upper Intermediate US /ˈtumˌstoʊn/ UK /tˈuːmstəʊn/ tomb·stone UK spelling tombstones Advertising Art Computing Mathematics

n.a flat stone placed over a grave that shows the name and dates of the person who died. It helps people remember where someone is buried.

n.a stone marker placed at the head of a grave, typically inscribed with the name, birth date, and death date of the deceased.


SIMPLE

The old tombstone was covered in green moss.

CONTEXTUAL

Historians often visit the local cemetery to read the inscriptions on each tombstone for genealogical research.

COMPLEX

Weathered by centuries of coastal rain, the marble tombstone had become nearly illegible, leaving the identity of the merchant buried beneath it a mystery to modern visitors.

Someone once sent me a cartoon of a tombstone that said 'at last she sleeps alone'," she wrote.

BBC News· 3 Sept 2026

From tomb + stone.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Level B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency Occasional
Updated