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Marold Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Funeral vs. burial

I haven't been able to work out the differences between these words mentioned below.

Funeral
Burial

Could any native speaker offer a satisfactory explanation for the differences that are to be perceived?

Thank you in advance.
  

Top answer

A funeral is a ceremony at which a burial takes place. We go to people's 'funerals', not their 'burials'. If we must speak of burials, we refer to them as interments.

— Mister Micawber

  • A funeral is a ceremony at which a burial takes place.
  • We go to people's 'funerals', not their 'burials'.
  • If we must speak of burials, we refer to them as interments.
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2 Answers
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A funeral is a ceremony at which a burial takes place. We go to people's 'funerals', not their 'burials'. If we must speak of burials, we refer to them as interments.
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Yea, you've cleared up my doubts about the words being synonyms. My bilingual dictionary has confused me.Now I know why I shouldn't trust it that much as a monolingual dictionary such as Oxford (which in this case, I have failed to understand).
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