exhume

verb

ex·​hume ig-ˈzüm How to pronounce exhume (audio)
igz-ˈyüm,
iks-ˈ(h)yüm How to pronounce exhume (audio)
exhumed; exhuming

transitive verb

1
: disinter
exhume a body
2
: to bring back from neglect or obscurity
exhumed a great deal of information from the archives
exhumation noun
exhumer
ig-ˈzü-mər How to pronounce exhume (audio)
igz-ˈyü-
iks-ˈ(h)yü-
noun

Examples of exhume in a Sentence

the remains of John Paul Jones were exhumed in Paris and transported with great ceremony to the U.S. Naval Academy
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Then, in November 2019, the DPAA exhumed the remains and sent them to a lab for analysis. Drake Bentley, Journal Sentinel, 20 Dec. 2024 Researchers exhumed the fossils yet again after the end of the war, but this time transported them into safekeeping at Urwelt-Museum Hauff in the nearby town of Holzmaden. Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 6 Feb. 2025 These were Jews and Russian prisoners of war who were forced by Nazi SS officers to do something unimaginably grotesque and inhumane: exhume the more than 70,000 corpses buried in mass graves in a forest named Ponar outside Vilnius, Lithuania. Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 22 Jan. 2025 Combining that experimental approach with Whitehead’s gripping text (based on real-life reform schools and the bodies that were discovered and exhumed from their grounds decades later) was the challenge of Nickel Boys. Christian Holub, EW.com, 20 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for exhume

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Medieval Latin exhumare, from Latin ex out of + humus earth — more at ex-, humble

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of exhume was in the 15th century

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Cite this Entry

“Exhume.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exhume. Accessed 1 Mar. 2025.

Kids Definition

exhume

verb
ex·​hume igz-ˈ(y)üm How to pronounce exhume (audio)
iks-ˈ(h)yüm
exhumed; exhuming
: to remove from a place of burial
exhumation noun

Medical Definition

exhume

transitive verb
exhumed; exhuming
: disinter
the body was exhumed for an autopsy

More from Merriam-Webster on exhume

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