What's the difference between charnel and ossuary?

Charnel


Definition:

  • (a.) Containing the bodies of the dead.
  • (n.) A charnel house; a grave; a cemetery.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He opposed Barack Obama’s 2011 campaign to oust Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, which has left Libya the kind of charnel house it was intended to prevent.
  • (2) From the skeletal remains of about 5800 individuals from the charnel house of Eggenburg there were 2200 individuals of late medieval date.
  • (3) The bombs instantly turned Boylston Street into a charnel house.
  • (4) The journalist and historian Carey McWilliams wrote almost 70 years ago the missions could be better conceived as “a series of picturesque charnel houses ”.

Ossuary


Definition:

  • (n.) A place where the bones of the dead are deposited; a charnel house.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This 1.5km-long ossuary (still one of the French capital’s most profitable tourist attractions) is dwarfed by the city’s 300km of underground tunnels that are closed to the public.
  • (2) A fused pelvis and two specimens of fused vertebrae were found in an ossuary at Ein Gedi, Israel; they date from approximately 2000 years ago.
  • (3) He has spent three years touring ancient ossuaries, documenting seldom-seen artworks crafted from human bones .

Words possibly related to "charnel"