Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A large stately tomb or a building housing such a tomb or several tombs.
- n. A gloomy, usually large room or building.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. [capitalized] In Gr. archæol., a very large and magnificent edifice adorned with sculpture, built by Queen Artemisia of Caria as the tomb of her husband, King Mausolus, at Halicarnassus, about 350 b. c., ranking as one of the seven wonders of the world.
- n. Any splendid tomb; a grand or stately sepulchral monument or edifice, now usually designed to contain a number of tombs: as, the mausoleum of a royal family.
Wiktionary
- n. A large stately tomb or a building housing such a tomb or several tombs.
- n. A gloomy, usually large room or building.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A magnificent tomb, or stately sepulchral monument.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a large burial chamber, usually above ground
Etymologies
- From Middle English mausoleum, from Latin mausōlēum, from Ancient Greek Μαυσωλεῖον (mausōleĩon) from Ancient Greek Μαύσωλος (mausōlos); named for Mausolus (Μαύσωλος or Μαύσσωλλος), satrap of the Persian empire and ruler of Caria (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Latin Mausōlēum, from Greek Mausōleion, from Mausōlos, Mausolus (died c. 353 B.C.), Persian satrap of Caria whose tomb was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“And having a gaudy mausoleum is not an impeachable offense.”
“The mausoleum is plain brick on the outside: nothing prepares you for the mosaics on every surface inside, illuminated by windows of translucent marble.”
“The others were Diana's Temple at Ephesus, the Tomb of Mau-so´lus (which was so fine that any handsome tomb is sometimes called a mausoleum), the”
“Ancient historians acquaint us with only seven wonders in the world: the Temple of Diana, at Ephesus; the magnificent sepulchre of the king Mausolus, from whence is derived the word mausoleum; the bronze Colossus of the Sun, in Rhodes; the statue of”
Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 3 of 3)
“The mausoleum was a magnificent structure, perfectly round in shape with a row of fluted pillars supporting the overhanging roof.”
“Oh, did I mention the mausoleum is a virtual granite resume, since Mr. Burris has etched in great detail his every job title, accomplishment, award, and entire life as a permanent monument to ... himself?”
“Rather than being seen as a temple to art, the building was described as a mausoleum with cabbage on top.”
“Great Regulars: Unlike the unidentified man who claimed that being interred in a mausoleum was the "Stateliest Possible Manner of Interment," the speaker who has a traveler's heart finds the old-fashioned earth burial more suitable to his wandering ways.”
“Archeologists think the mausoleum, which is called Tomb 5, is a family crypt laid out by Ramses II, who certainly required a big one.”
“This is the car that was carrying her coffin, very simple wooden box, from her village of Garhi Khuda Baksh to the mausoleum, which is quite an impressive structure.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mausoleum’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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LIT - Ulysses - key words and phrases
money cowrie, bedraggle, omphalos, ineluctable, postprandial, bladderwrack, modality barnacle..., loofah, shipworm, cither, embattle, Malachi and 503 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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Containers
Stuff that holds other stuff.
cardboard box, jar, filing cabinet, safe deposit box, cupboard, wardrobe, jewel case, briefcase, locker, canopic jar, chest of drawers, paper sack and 208 more...
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bestiary
agave, incunable, echt, wissenschaft, friscalating, obsolescence, clavier, yajna, ecstatic, casual, protean, hum and 41 more...
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Poetry words
Hope to use these in poetry
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dandy's list
favourite words
cattywampus, wibble, fenagle, whisker, sneeze, wisteria, honeysuckle, clove, perihelion, glimmer, twilight, dusk and 264 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (M)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
mace, macintosh, madras, magenta, magic 8 ball, magma, mahogany, maiden, mail, mainsail, maize, malachite and 169 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, M
metamerism, malady, margin, marauder, maverick, mercury, mirth, mandible, macerate, meteor, manumission, mica and 292 more...
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Namesakes
Words derived from names, be they historical, literary, or mythological.
quixotic, cereal, odyssey, jovial, mercurial, erotic, achilles' heel, confucianism, lovecraftian, narcissism, echo, fallopian and 101 more...
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Ny New Words
From Barron Wordlist the New Words
lap, lank, languor, languish, lancet, lance, lampoon, larceny, larder, largess, lascivious, latitude and 120 more...
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Reading Reading
Words from the works of Peter Reading - at least one from each (except the Schwitters-esque erosions, cut-ups etc).
overbright, pimpled, muskiness, effuse, stoup, maul, unlevel, viscid, perfidious, glibly, aloes, drouth and 449 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Excess
Excess
licentiousness, crapulence, vomit, mausoleum, fit to kill, libation, decadent, superfluous, louche
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wordsmithing part deux
because wordsmith is not a verb.
enmity, incarnate, chignon, nape, solitude, nocturne, decorum, warren, svelte, interstice, serene, charlotte and 488 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for mausoleum.

rieperae It is a beautiful somber-sounding word. Found it playing Clock Tower 3 on the good ol PS2! Oct 18, 2011
yarb chelster: what if it's the tomb of a mouse? Apr 9, 2010
milosrdenstvi I see we are expected to tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin. Apr 9, 2010
chelster There is no mouse in mausoleum. Don't say MOUSE-uh-lee-um. Apr 9, 2010
yarb Vinyl scoured of footmarks,
office a mausoleum,
typewriters muffled in hoods...
- Peter Reading, Absentees, from The Prison Cell and Barrel Mystery, 1976 Jun 23, 2008
rolig from King Mausolos of Caria, who built himself a fancy tomb in Halicarnassus that (I think) made the list of Seven Top Wonders. Dec 16, 2007