: a combustible heap for burning a dead body as a funeral rite
broadly: a pile of material to be burned
a pyre of dead leaves
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebWithin 15 minutes of lighting his friend’s funeral pyre, Mr. Zinjade heard a commotion where the man’s wife was standing. Kanika Gupta, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Aug. 2022 One way to think about the inferno that tore through a critically important fuel-storage terminal in the Cuban port of Matanzas last week is as a funeral pyre for the 1959 revolution. Mary Anastasia O’grady, WSJ, 14 Aug. 2022 In the first one, Mike Ehrmentraut (Jonathan Banks) stands beside a desert bonfire, a funeral pyre where the bloodstained truth about Howard Hamlin's (Patrick Fabian) death is being slowly burned away. Kat Rosenfield, EW.com, 19 July 2022 Polly is shown only as a portrait in the ensuing funeral pyre, as her son Michael Gray (Finn Cole) lights her carriage aflame in tribute to their Romany gypsy heritage. Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 11 June 2022 After the opening scene where Tommy learns of Polly’s death, the Shelbys have a funeral for Polly, which includes a wagon pyre, a tradition in keeping with the family’s roots. Josh St. Clair, Men's Health, 10 June 2022 As carts filled with bodies roll toward a mass pyre, Schindler spots the girl among the dead.Washington Post, 21 Apr. 2022 Under Gajewski’s hands, the orchestra surged now and then from candlelit prayer to roaring pyre.Washington Post, 3 Mar. 2022 The family travelled to Tibet to retrieve and cremate the body in a pyre at base camp. Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Latin pyra, from Greek, from pyr fire — more at fire