funerary

funerary, funeral, funereal

Funerary is the standard adjective in the neutral meaning ‘of or used at a funeral or funerals’, as in funerary ashes, funerary urn, etc. It dates from the late 17c and has replaced funeral, which was originally an adjective but became predominantly a noun from the 16c onwards (in uses such as funeral expenses and funeral rites it is a noun used attributively and not an adjective). Funereal, which is first recorded in 1725, has a special judgemental meaning ‘appropriate to a funeral’, either ‘deadly slow’ (like a funeral procession) or ‘gloomy, dreary, dismal’:

• Her mother and brother had departed to the kitchen from where Wexford could hear their muted whisperings and the funereally careful clink of cups —Ruth Rendell, 1981

• Even with Donald there, Aileen thought, the place had a funereal silence about it —C. F. Roe, 1992

• Outside the traffic is creeping through the city centre at a funereal pace —Mirror, 2005.