potter's field

Definition of potter's fieldnext
as in cemetery
a piece of land used for burying the dead criminals and unidentified people are sometimes buried in a potter's field

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of potter's field According to a 1951 Milwaukee Journal article, the potter's field was the burial site of many victims of the city's 1849-1850 cholera epidemic, which was estimated to have killed as many as 700 of the city's then-20,000 residents. — Claire Reid, Journal Sentinel, 11 Oct. 2024 After finding out from police that her son was buried in a potter's field, Wade Robinson sought to recover his body and give him a proper burial. — Deena Zaru, ABC News, 16 Nov. 2023 The family lived down the street from the potter's field where the boy was first buried, and placed flowers there on holidays. — Maryclaire Dale, USA TODAY, 14 Jan. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for potter's field
Noun
  • This decline is often captured sentimentally in memoirs about the Jewish South of a bygone era or photographs of Jewish cemeteries in various states of disrepair.
    — Ashley Walters, The Conversation, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Historical and archaeological investigations showed the area overlapped with the site of the former Sacramento County Hospital cemetery, which operated from the 1880s to the 1920s, officials said.
    — Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 30 Sep. 2026
Noun
  • Independent orbital tracking showed that these satellites subsequently both raised their orbits by a few hundred kilometers, a move typically associated with disposing of them into graveyard orbits above geostationary space.
    — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 2 Oct. 2026
  • The graves of Emma Joyce and her sister and brothers are clustered near one another at Peaceful Valley Cemetery, a hilltop graveyard that belongs to the Followers of Christ, a faith-healing sect with at least four churches in Idaho.
    — Audrey Dutton, ProPublica, 1 Oct. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Potter's field.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/potter%27s%20field. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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