obituary
/ə(ʊ)ˈbɪtʃʊəri
/ /ə(ʊ)ˈbɪtʃəri/noun (plural obituaries)
A notice of a death, especially in a newspaper, typically including a brief biography of the deceased person: his obituary of Samuel Beckett [as modifier]: an obituary notice figurative it is premature to write the obituary of British science...
- Every day that passes sees the obituary columns of broadsheet newspapers bring us more examples.
- Everyone knows that major newspapers hold obituaries written well in advance of the deaths of notable people.
- The Warwickshire captain is used to reading his obituary notice in the columns of the national newspapers.
Synonyms
death notice, eulogy
informal obit
rare necrology, necrologue
Derivatives
obituarist
/ /ə(ʊ)ˈbɪtʃərɪst / noun ...- Most obituarists prefer the airbrush to the sharpened pen when it comes to the famous and powerful.
- He was an occasional obituarist for The Independent and The Guardian and a contributor to the New Dictionary of National Biography.
- We cannot control what other's write about us, and today's critic may be tomorrow's biographer and obituarist.
Origin
Early 18th century: from medieval Latin obituarius, from Latin obitus 'death', from obit- 'perished', from the verb obire.