MEANING
1. The ceremony at which a dead body is consigned to burial or cremation.
2. The formal act of sending someone to prison or to a psychiatric institution.
3. The formal sending of an accused person to a higher court for trial or sentencing.
Use it for
naming the final burial or cremation stage of a funeral; describing mourners at the graveside ceremony; distinguishing committal from a later memorial gatheringNames the stage or ceremony of consigning a body to burial or cremation, distinct from general remembrance. Writing functions: Funereal / Gothic.
Words that belong together
- a committal service
- the committal ceremony
- attend the committal
On the page
At the committal, she watched a small leaf settle on the coffin.
Only the family remained for the committal after the service.
The file recorded his committal to hospital but said nothing about his release.
She found the committal order folded inside the family Bible.
The report concerned his committal for trial, not a finding of guilt.
Word forms
- Base
- committal
Usage notes
Countable or uncountable noun: the committal; a committal; plural committals. In funeral use, often committal service. It is not a synonym for every part of a funeral. Register: formal. Commonness: moderately common in funeral contexts; other uses are institutional or legal (dictionary-informed qualitative editorial estimate; not a measured frequency).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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