graveyard

IPA/ˈɡreɪvjɑːd/
KK[ɡrˈevjˌɑrd]IPA/ˈɡreɪvjɑːrd/

graveyard — noun

  • graveyardsingular
  • graveyardsplural

1. an outdoor piece of ground, often beside a church, holding the buried bodies and

1.nounB1
Definition

an outdoor piece of ground, often beside a church, holding the buried bodies and headstones of people who have died.

Example

Pim laid white roses on her grandmother's stone in the village graveyard.

in/at the graveyard with possessive (someone's stone)

An old stone wall surrounded the small graveyard behind the parish church.

graveyard behind/beside the church

Common collocations
  • village graveyard
  • church graveyard
  • old graveyard
  • walk through the graveyard
Synonyms
  • cemetery

    larger, dedicated burial site; not tied to a church

  • burial ground

    neutral, often used for older or archaeological sites

  • churchyard

    specifically the ground around a church, even if no burials

Grammar Patterns

in/at + the graveyard

Usage Note

Often interchangeable with 'cemetery', but 'graveyard' is more common for small church-attached burial grounds, while 'cemetery' suggests a larger, dedicated site.

Common Mistakes

He works in a graveyard shift.
He works the graveyard shift.
the fixed phrase takes no preposition before 'graveyard shift'.

2. a place that has filled up with things or people no one wants anymore — for exam

2.nounB2
Definition

a place that has filled up with things or people no one wants anymore — for example, a desert lot full of rusting cars, or a job nobody hopes to return from.

Example

The empty lot behind the factory became a graveyard for broken washing machines.

a graveyard for + plural noun (unwanted objects)

Critics called the late-night slot a graveyard for promising new TV shows.

figurative: a graveyard for + abstract noun

Common collocations
  • a graveyard of
  • a graveyard for
  • elephants' graveyard
Synonyms
  • dumping ground

    more literal; suggests an actual disposal site

  • scrapyard

    literal; specifically for metal vehicles or machinery

  • wasteland

    broader; suggests emptiness rather than discarded items

Grammar Patterns

a graveyard of/for + plural noun

Usage Note

Almost always followed by 'of' or 'for' plus a plural noun naming the abandoned items. Distinguish from sense 1: this sense never names a literal place where humans are buried.

Common Mistakes

My old phone went to the graveyard.
My old phone ended up in the graveyard of forgotten gadgets.
this sense needs an explicit 'of/for + noun' to read figuratively.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four name places where the dead are buried, but each carries different connotations. 'Graveyard' typically suggests a small, often older burial area attached to a church, and is the most everyday word in conversation. 'Cemetery' suggests a larger, formally planned site that need not be near any church — most municipal burial grounds are cemeteries. 'Churchyard' names the ground around a church regardless of whether anyone is buried there, though graves are usually implied. 'Burial ground' is the most neutral and is often chosen for older or archaeological sites — historians write of an 'ancient burial ground', not an 'ancient cemetery'. In practice you might walk through the village graveyard on Sunday, visit your grandparents at the city cemetery, and read about a Bronze Age burial ground in a museum.

graveyard ↗cemetery ↗churchyard ↗burial ground

Common collocations

Nouns

  • graveyard shift
  • graveyard wall
  • graveyard gate

Phrases

  • a graveyard of broken dreams
  • elephants' graveyard

Prepositions

  • in the graveyard
  • at the graveyard
  • through the graveyard
  • behind the graveyard

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

A compound of 'grave' (a hole dug to bury a body, from Old English græf) and 'yard' (an enclosed piece of ground, from Old English geard). The word entered English in the early 1800s as a plain-English alternative to the older 'churchyard' and the more formal 'cemetery', which English had borrowed from Greek via Latin and French.