tombstone
/ˈtuːmstəʊn/ (bre, ipa) · [tˈumstˌon] /ˈtuːmstəʊn/ (ame, ipa) · [tˈumstˌon] /ˈtüm-ˌstōn How to pronounce tombstone (audio)/ (ame, mw)
tombstone — noun
- tombstonesingular
- tombstonesplural
1. a carved stone or slab placed at a grave, usually showing the name, the birth an
a carved stone or slab placed at a grave, usually showing the name, the birth and death years, and sometimes a short message about the person whose remains lie underneath
A granite tombstone stood at a grave by the old church wall, carved with the name Ada and the year 1892.
collocation: granite tombstone; preposition: by the church wall
Nia helped choose a simple marble tombstone for the grave after her grandmother passed away.
collocation: marble tombstone / choose a tombstone
After a hundred years in the damp cemetery, the letters on the old tombstone had become hard to read.
Asher drove to the small cemetery to see his great-grandparents' tombstone for the first time.
Every spring the groundskeeper cleans the moss off the older tombstones in the family plot near the oak tree.
- gravestone
the most common alternative; slightly less formal than tombstone
- headstone
specifically refers to an upright stone at the head of a grave
- monument
a broader term for any structure built to remember a person or event; not restricted to graves
- memorial
emphasises the act of remembering rather than the physical object
文法句型
tombstone + of [person]
tombstone + in/at [place]
用法筆記
Tombstone, gravestone, and headstone are often used interchangeably. Strictly speaking, a headstone stands at the head of a grave (vertical), while a tombstone may lie flat over the burial site. In everyday English, tombstone is the most common and neutral term.
常見錯誤
tombstone — noun
1. a small city in the southeastern corner of the US state of Arizona, known as a W
a small city in the southeastern corner of the US state of Arizona, known as a Wild West mining town and for the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881
Tariq and his family spent the weekend in Tombstone, Arizona, visiting the old saloons and the O.K. Corral site.
preposition: in Tombstone, Arizona
Many tourists visit the small city of Tombstone to see a re-enactment of the O.K. Corral gunfight.
Travellers in southern Arizona stop in Tombstone to see its 1880s wooden sidewalks and old mining-town buildings.
The museum in Tombstone displays old photographs from the town's silver-mining days.
用法筆記
When referring to the city, Tombstone is treated as a proper noun — it does not take an article ("he lives in Tombstone", not "he lives in the Tombstone"). The city's name originally comes from the grave-marker sense; a miner was told that all he would find there was his tombstone.