Crypt Meaning
/kɹɪpt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA cave or cavern.
nounAn underground vault.
Sentence Examples
Tom's body lies in the crypt below.
The royal crypt was pilfered by grave robbers long ago.
CEFR Practice Quiz
They discovered an ancient ____ beneath the old church floor.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Tom's body lies in the ____ below.
Word Origin & History
Learned borrowing from Latin crypta (“vault”), from Ancient Greek κρυπτός (kruptós, “hidden”). Doublet of grotto.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"She turned and waved a hand to him, she cried a word, but he didn't hear it, it was a lost word. A sable wraith she was in the parkland, fading away into the dolorous crypt of winter."
— 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/2/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
"On its arrival at Bank, incidentally, the City & South London's directors had threatened to demolish the church of St Mary Woolnoth, but after a public outcry the company built its station in the crypt of the church, the bodies being transferred [...]. Therefore St Mary Woolnoth doesn't have a crypt. Or you could say that its crypt is Bank station."
— 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 106:
"Sometimes, too much foreign material can get caught in the crypts, leading to frequent infections."
— 2015, Giulia Enders, translated by David Shaw, Gut, Scribe, published 2016, page 25:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
They discovered an ancient ____ beneath the old church floor.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Tom's body lies in the ____ below.