rebury

IPA/ˌriːˈber.i/
IPA/ˌriːˈber.i/

rebury — verb

  • reburypresent simple I / you / we / they
  • reburies3rd person singular
  • reburying-ing form
  • reburiedpast simple

1. to put a once-buried person or object back into the ground, for example after di

1.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to put a once-buried person or object back into the ground, for example after digging it up for examination, relocation, or repair.

Example

After the exhibition, the team <hl>reburied</hl> the artifacts in the excavation pit.

rebury + noun phrase (artifacts / remains / pipes)

The villagers held a ceremony to <hl>rebury</hl> their ancestors in the hillside cemetery.

Common collocations
  • rebury remains
  • rebury artifacts
  • rebury bones
  • rebury a pipe
  • rebury a cable
  • rebury a coffin
Synonyms
  • re-inter

    more formal, used almost exclusively for human remains in a grave or tomb

  • re-cover with earth

    descriptive rather than a single-word verb; used for objects like pipes or cables

Antonyms
  • exhume

    to dig up something that was buried

  • unearth

    to dig up; often used in archaeological contexts

Grammar Patterns

rebury + noun phrase

Usage Note

Often used in archaeology (reburying artifacts), construction (reburying pipes or cables), and funeral contexts (reburying remains after exhumation). The object is a physical thing that was previously underground.

Common Mistakes

The family will rebury their grandmother next week.' (if she was never buried before)
The family will bury their grandmother next week.
'rebury' means to bury something that was already buried, not to bury for the first time.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Rebury is the most general of the three, suitable for both human remains ('rebury the ashes') and inanimate objects ('rebury the cable'). Re-inter is more formal and restricted to burial contexts — you re-inter a coffin or urn in a cemetery, but not a pipe or an artifact. Re-cover with earth is a descriptive phrase rather than a single verb; it focuses on the action of covering rather than the burial ritual. For example: 'The workers reburied the fiber-optic cable' sounds natural, while 'the workers re-interred the cable' would be odd because re-inter implies a ceremonial burial.

rebury ↗re-interre-cover with earth

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

Formed in English by adding the prefix re- (meaning 'again') to the verb bury. Bury comes from Old English byrgan ('to put in a grave, inter'), which is related to the Old English word burg ('a fortress, dwelling') — referring to the earthwork or mound that covered both a grave and a fortified place.

First known use

1611

1611, in the meaning defined above