buried alive
Underground while conscious
Buried alive describes being interred while still living—whether deliberately as punishment or torture, or accidentally when someone is mistaken for dead.
The phrase captures a primal fear: She was terrified of being buried alive.
Figuratively, it describes being overwhelmed or trapped: I'm buried alive in paperwork.
The extended sense suggests suffocation by obligation or circumstance.
- suffocationFatal lack of air
- asphyxiationDeath from oxygen loss
- entombmentPlacing in a sepulcher
- earthSoil or electrical grounding
- exhumationRecovering buried remains
gasping for air · grave · six feet under · shallow grave · coffin · safety coffin · panic · catalepsy · claustrophobia · trapped · despair · hypoxia · last breath · casket · terror · dirt · soil · Poe
- horror tropesjump scare, final girl, haunted house, masked killer, slasher
- Stuntsstunt, stuntman, stunt double, daredevil, stunt performer
- Pro Wrestlingheel, WrestleMania, face turn, Royal Rumble, kayfabe
- death idiomsdead end, dead serious, dead wrong, dead tired, dead weight
- TV drama tropesto be continued, plot twist, suspense, season finale, cliffhanger
buried alivecremated
Burned after death
sky burial · cremation · burned at the stake · sea burial · exposed
live, alive, living, bury, survive, buried, survival, burial, surviving