Definition of OBITUARY

obituary

Plural: obituaries

Noun

  • A published notice of a death, often with a biography.
  • a notice of someone's death; usually includes a short biography
  • A brief notice of a person's death, especially one published in a newspaper or other publication; also (obsolete), the section of a newspaper where notices of deaths are published.
  • A brief biography of a person (especially one who is well-known) who has recently died, usually describing their life and achievements, particularly in the form of an article in a news publication or an item in a news broadcast.
  • An announcement or description of the end of something.
  • A register of deaths, especially one maintained by a religious institution; a necrology.

Examples

  • The OBITUARY of his winning streak was clearly written after that strategic move.

Origin / Etymology

PIE word
*h₁epi
Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin obituārius (“obituary”) + English -ary (suffix denoting something relating to another thing or used in a place). Obituārius is derived from Latin obitus (“act of approaching or going toward, an approach; act of going down, setting; of the sun: sunset; death; destruction, downfall, ruin”) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives and agent nouns); while obitus is a noun use of the perfect passive participle of obeō (“to go to meet, go towards; (figurative) to die, pass away, perish; (astronomy) to set”), from ob- (prefix meaning ‘toward’) + eō (“to go, move”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”).

Synonyms

necrology, obit

Scrabble Score: 13

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

Words With Friends Score: 14

obituary: valid Words With Friends Word