obituary

obituary — noun

1. a piece of writing, often published in a newspaper or online, that announces som

1.nounC1
Definition

a piece of writing, often published in a newspaper or online, that announces someone has just died and recalls what they did during their life.

Example

The local paper printed a long obituary for Mrs. Chen, who taught music for forty years.

obituary for + named person

Hugo cut the obituary out of the Sunday paper and stuck it inside his grandfather's old diary.

Common collocations
  • write an obituary
  • publish an obituary
  • run an obituary
  • obituary column
  • obituary page
  • lengthy obituary
  • glowing obituary
Synonyms
  • death notice

    shorter and plainer; usually just announces the death and funeral details without a life summary

  • eulogy

    spoken praise given at a funeral, not a printed article

  • memorial

    broader — covers any form of remembrance, including objects, events, or services

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

obituary of/for [person]

publish/run/write an obituary

Usage Note

Subject is usually a newspaper, magazine, or website; the person being remembered appears with 'of' or 'for'. Common verbs are 'write', 'publish', 'run', and 'print'.

Common Mistakes

I read his obituary before he died.
I read his obituary after he died.
an obituary is written only once a person has died.
The obituary about my uncle was very moving.
The obituary of my uncle was very moving.
the standard preposition is 'of' (or 'for'), not 'about'.

Word family

  • obit
    nounC2
  • obituarist
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words deal with how we mark someone's death, but they sit in different places. An 'obituary' is a printed or online article that both reports the death and looks back over the person's life — it is journalism. A 'death notice' is shorter and plainer: it tells readers that the person has died and often gives the time and place of the funeral, with little or no biography. A 'eulogy' is spoken, not printed; it is the praise speech delivered by a friend or relative at the funeral itself. 'Memorial' is the broadest term — it can be a service, a statue, a fund, or even a website set up to keep someone's memory alive. Compare: 'The Times ran a full obituary,' 'Her son gave a beautiful eulogy at the church,' and 'A memorial bench was placed in the park.'

obituary ↗eulogy ↗death noticememorial ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • obituary column
  • obituary page
  • obituary writer
  • obituary section
  • newspaper obituary

Phrases

  • write an obituary
  • publish an obituary
  • run an obituary
  • read the obituaries

Prepositions

  • obituary of
  • obituary for
  • obituary in

Etymology

LatinMedieval LatinEnglish

The word came into English in the early 1700s from Medieval Latin 'obituarius', meaning 'a record of a death'. That noun grew out of Latin 'obitus', the act of going down or passing away, which was itself formed from 'ob-' ('toward, against') and 'ire' ('to go'). The same Latin root sits behind softer English phrases for dying, such as 'pass away'. By the eighteenth century English newspapers were running short death notices under the heading 'obituary', and the word soon attached itself to the longer life-summary articles we read today.