potter's field
Indigent burial ground
A potter's field is a burial ground for the indigent, unidentified, or unclaimed dead—people whose bodies no one comes forward to bury properly.
The term comes from the Gospel of Matthew, where Judas's thirty pieces of silver were used to buy a field from a potter as a place to bury strangers.
Most cities maintain such grounds, though they go by various official names.
The homeless man was buried in the potter's field outside town.
Having no visible identification
- graveSerious and worrying
- pauperPerson in extreme poverty
- indigentExtremely poor, lacking necessities
- mass graveShared burial for many
interment · remains · bones · ashes · unclaimed · anonymous · wooden cross · Boot Hill
Not yet discovered
- namelessWithout any designation
- unidentifiedNot yet recognized
- facelessLacking identity or features
- unclaimedNot yet taken
unrecognized · forgotten · invisible · obscure · lost identity · John Doe · Jane Doe · erased
Of sacred texts
- JudasArchetypal betrayer name
- thirty piecesPayment for treachery
- JerusalemTriply sacred ancient capital
- archaeological siteLocation of historic remains
excavation · relics · Victorian · medieval · colonial · plague pit
Extreme poverty, total want
- destitutionExtreme poverty, lacking necessities
- pauperismCondition of being destitute
- penuryExtreme lack of money
- privationLack of necessities
homelessness · almshouse · workhouse · welfare · disenfranchised · marginalized · outcast · vagrant
Of city government
- benevolenceDisposition toward doing good
- community responsibilityShared accountability to others
- social serviceAssistance for community wellbeing
- institutional careProfessional supervision in facilities
unmarked
Having no visible identification
mass grave · interment · remains · bones · ashes · unclaimed · anonymous · wooden cross · Boot Hill
unknown
Not yet discovered
- namelessWithout any designation
- unidentifiedNot yet recognized
- facelessLacking identity or features
unclaimed · unrecognized · forgotten · invisible · obscure · lost identity · John Doe · Jane Doe · erased · undocumented
biblical
Of sacred texts
- JudasArchetypal betrayer name
- thirty piecesPayment for treachery
- JerusalemTriply sacred ancient capital
archaeological site · excavation · relics · Victorian · medieval · colonial · plague pit
indigence
Extreme poverty, total want
- destitutionExtreme poverty, lacking necessities
- pauperismCondition of being destitute
- penuryExtreme lack of money
privation · homelessness · almshouse · workhouse · welfare · disenfranchised · marginalized · outcast · vagrant · transient
municipal
Of city government
- benevolenceDisposition toward doing good
- community responsibilityShared accountability to others
- social serviceAssistance for community wellbeing
- cemeteriescemetery, graves, grave, burial, headstones
- funeralsfuneral, burial, cremation, casket, coffin
- death placescemetery, crematorium, crematory, funeral home, funeral parlor
- burial lawburial plots, burial grounds, burial records, disinterment, home burial
- gravesgravestones, headstones, gravestone, tombstones, headstone
potter's fieldfamily cemetery
Private burial site for relatives
family plot · mausoleum · royal tomb · Westminster Abbey · family vault
field, pottery, potted, potter, potting, potable, potters, potful