charnel-house
Where corpses accumulate
A charnel-house is a building or vault where corpses or bones are deposited.
Before modern burial practices, bodies were often moved from graves to charnel-houses to make room for new burials.
The word now appears mostly in figurative use, describing any place associated with death or carnage: The battlefield had become a charnel-house.
Corpse holding facility
- ossuaryReceptacle for skeletal remains
- cryptSubterranean burial vault
- mausoleumMonumental building for interment
- catacombUnderground cemetery passage
tomb · crematorium · funeral · corpse · cadaver · coffin · casket · embalming
Causing horror and disgust
- ghoulishFascinated by death grotesquely
- morbidUnhealthily drawn to darkness
- gothicDark, mysterious aesthetic
- eerieDisturbingly strange
haunting · grim · horror · grotesque · sinister · dreadful · chilling · nightmarish
Mass grave for epidemic dead
- mass graveShared burial for many
- battlefieldCombat engagement area
- massacreLarge-scale unlawful killing
- genocideSystematic annihilation of a people
Holocaust · killing fields · death camp · pogrom · war dead · medieval · Black Death · epidemic
Bacterial breakdown of tissue
- decayGradual organic breakdown
- rotOrganic breakdown process
- molderingSlowly decomposing over time
- carrionPutrefying animal remains
stench · festering · putrescence · cadaverous · corruption · necrosis · rotting flesh · miasma
morgue
Corpse holding facility
- ossuaryReceptacle for skeletal remains
- cryptSubterranean burial vault
- mausoleumMonumental building for interment
catacomb · tomb · crematorium · funeral · corpse · cadaver · coffin · casket · embalming · mortician
gruesome
Causing horror and disgust
- ghoulishFascinated by death grotesquely
- morbidUnhealthily drawn to darkness
- gothicDark, mysterious aesthetic
eerie · haunting · grim · horror · grotesque · sinister · dreadful · chilling · nightmarish · foreboding
plague pit
Mass grave for epidemic dead
- mass graveShared burial for many
- battlefieldCombat engagement area
- massacreLarge-scale unlawful killing
genocide · Holocaust · killing fields · death camp · pogrom · war dead · medieval · Black Death · epidemic · slaughter
putrefaction
Bacterial breakdown of tissue
carrion · stench · festering · putrescence · cadaverous · corruption · necrosis · rotting flesh · miasma · foulness
bones
Rigid internal support structure
ossified · ribcage · vertebrae · cranium · mandible · pelvis · femur · relics · disarticulated · exhumed
charnel-housenursery
Room for infants
maternity ward · birthing center · cradle · womb · fertility clinic
charnel-househospital
Medical treatment facility
healing center · sanatorium · spa · convalescent home · hospice
charnel, house, houses, carnal, carnage, carnival, carnation, incarnate, incarnation