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Definition of epitaph noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

epitaph

noun
 
/ˈepɪtɑːf/
 
/ˈepɪtæf/
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  1. words that are written or said about a dead person, especially words on a gravestone
    • His epitaph read: ‘A just and noble countryman’.
    Extra Examples
    • Joyce's epitaph on King Edward VIII
    • She wrote the perfect epitaph for the poet.
    Topics Life stagesc2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • fitting
    verb + epitaph
    • write
    • make
    • stand as
    preposition
    • as an epitaph
    • epitaph for
    • epitaph on
    phrases
    • be somebody’s epitaph
    See full entry
  2. epitaph (to somebody/something) something that is left to remind people of a particular person, a period of time or an event
    • These slums are an epitaph to the housing policy of the 1960s.
    Extra Examples
    • These films stand as an epitaph to the great director.
    • It makes a fitting epitaph to a great career.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • fitting
    verb + epitaph
    • write
    • make
    • stand as
    preposition
    • as an epitaph
    • epitaph for
    • epitaph on
    phrases
    • be somebody’s epitaph
    See full entry
  3. Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French epitaphe, via Latin from Greek epitaphion ‘funeral oration’, neuter of ephitaphios ‘over or at a tomb’, from epi ‘upon’ + taphos ‘tomb’.
See epitaph in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
given
adjective
 
 
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