: the process of reducing a dead body to mostly tiny bits of bone resembling ash that involves exposing the body to flame and intense heat followed by pulverization of bone fragments
And while I do not conceive of an afterlife, I do conceive a strange, attenuated, out-of-the-body experience in which I'm somehow tenuously present at my burial or cremation. Rosemary Dinnage
… funeral directors say family traditions are changing, leading to an increase in cremation rates. Matthew Waite
This week the Vatican issued a directive not to scatter the ashes of loved ones after cremation, and instructed followers to only store them in places approved by the Church. Mandy Johnston
b
: alkaline hydrolysis—usually used following an adjective or an attributive noun
The reason why flameless cremation or cremation using alkaline hydrolysis is better is that it releases 50 kgs of carbon. If you opt for the traditional method of cremation, close to 250 kgs of carbon is released at one time. Vishal SharmaIn a water cremation, human remains are placed within a chamber filled with about 70 to 90 gallons of water, into which bases like sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide are added. Bennet Goldstein
2
: the remains of the cremation process
In Besik Bay, the sandy cove facing the island of Tenedos in the Aegean, a cemetery was found where a variety of foreign peoples were buried … . Included were cremations from the thirteenth century B.C. Caroline Alexander
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from Latin cremātiōn-, cremātiō "a burning," from cremāre "to destroy by fire, burn as an offering to a god, cremate" + -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of verbal action