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obituary

noun
/əˈbɪt͡ʃʊ(ə)ɹi/UK/əˈbɪt͡ʃəˌwɛɹi/US

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”).

  1. derived from *h₁ey-✻ — “to go”
  2. derived from obitus — “act of approaching or going toward, an approach; act of going down, setting; of the sun: sunset; death; destruction, downfall, ruin”
  3. learned borrowing from obituārius — “obituary”

Definitions

  1. A brief notice of a person's death, especially one published in a newspaper or other…

    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.

    • The newspaper came in, as usual, after breakfast. I looked it over, and discovered this memorable entry, among the obituary announcements of the day:— "On the 29th inst., at Brighton, Michael Vanstone, Esq., formerly of Zurich, aged 77."
    • “You want to know the ironic thing? I wrote my son’s obituary using ChatGPT,” Mr. Taylor said.

  2. A brief biography of a person (especially one who is well-known) who has recently died,…

    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.

    • You know the Greeks didn't write obituaries. They only asked one question after a man died: "Did he have passion?"

  3. An announcement or description of the end of something.

  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. A register of deaths, especially one maintained by a religious institution

      A register of deaths, especially one maintained by a religious institution; a necrology.

    2. Relating to obituaries.

      • He is the paper's obituary editor.

The neighborhood

Derived

obit, obituarial, obituarian, obituarily, obituarist, obituarize

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for obituary. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA