Definition of CHARNEL

charnel

Plural: charnels

Noun

  • A building or room where corpses or bones are stored.
  • a vault or building where corpses or bones are deposited
  • A chapel attached to a mortuary.
  • A repository for dead bodies.
  • Part of a helm, now usually identified as the hinge (near the neck) by which the helm was secured to the breastplate.

Adjective Satellite

  • gruesomely indicative of death or the dead
    • "a charnel smell came from the chest filled with dead men's bones"

Adj

  • Of or relating to a charnel, deathlike, sepulchral.

Examples

  • The unused letters on the board felt like a CHARNEL house, full of wasted potential.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English charnel, from Old French charnel, carnel, from Late Latin carnāle (“graveyard”), from Latin carnālis, or possibly an alteration of Anglo-Norman charner, from Medieval Latin carnārium (“charnel”). Displaced Middle English fleshusse, from Old English flǣsċhūs.

Synonyms

charnel house, ghastly, sepulchral

Scrabble Score: 12

charnel: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
charnel: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
charnel: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 14

charnel: valid Words With Friends Word