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Hidden under the main floor of a great church is often a large room, often with a tomb as its centerpiece. Many major European churches were built over the remains of a saint—the Vatican's great St. Peter's Basilica is an example—and instead of having the coffin buried, it was often given its spacious room below ground level. In a large aboveground tomb, or mausoleum, there may be several small chambers for individual coffins, also called crypts; when the comic book Tales from the Crypt made its first appearance in 1950, it was this meaning that the authors were referring to.
Examples of crypt in a Sentence
Adam Bradley, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2023
The Ferraris’ crypt plays a pivotal role in the film.
—Stephen Rodrick, Variety, 23 Aug. 2023
But the crypt where regular worshippers gather is the true core where many like him feel at home.
—The Salt Lake Tribune, 26 July 2023
The mausoleum belongs to a family and contains three crypts, Kelley said.
—Alexandra E. Petri, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2023
She was buried at the cathedral in the Grimaldi family crypt.
—Christine Rousselle, Fox News, 14 Sep. 2023
Pezzola walked around the Capitol for about 20 minutes and recorded a video in the crypt proclaiming his pride in taking the building over, prosecutors said.
—Bart Jansen, USA TODAY, 1 Sep. 2023
The crypt was filled in around 1300, according to the statement.
—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Aug. 2023
After Justo Gallego Martínez’s death, Spanish officials deemed his junk cathedral unsanitary and refused to honor his wish of being buried in the crypt; the cathedral itself faced the prospect of demolition before eventually being preserved by a charity.
—Max Olesker, Longreads, 13 July 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'crypt.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
borrowed from Latin crypta, crupta "covered passage, underground room," borrowed from Greek kryptḗ "underground room," noun derivative from feminine of kryptós "hidden, secret," verbal adjective of krýptein "to hide, conceal," of uncertain origin
Note: The verb krýptein is phonetically and semantically close to kalýptein "to cover, conceal," and the two may have influenced each other. Other forms with which krýptein has been compared, such as Old Church Slavic kryjǫ, kryti "to cover, hide, shroud," Lithuanian kráuju, kráuti "to pile up," are too distant phonetically to allow realistic reconstruction of an Indo-European verbal base. The alternation in consonants between kryp- (in krýptein, kryptós), kryb- (in krýbdēn "secretly"), and kryph- (in kryphêi "in secret," -kryphos "hidden") is apparently the result of both assimilation and analogy.
1583, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Dictionary Entries Near crypt
Cite this Entry
“Crypt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crypt. Accessed 9 Jan. 2024.
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Kids Definition
crypt
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Medical Definition
crypt
noun
More from Merriam-Webster on crypt
Nglish: Translation of crypt for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of crypt for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about crypt
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