sepulchral (adj.)
Pronunciation: seh-PULL-krel
Definition: Of or relating to a burial vault (sepulcher) or a receptacle for sacred relics; suggestive of the grave; funereal.
Today's word comes from Old French sepulcre and Latin sepulcrum, both meaning - yes, tomb. That noun comes from a verb, sepelire, meaning "to bury." If you check with Sanskrit, you have saparyati, "to perform rituals on a corpse."
Use this word when intoning your favorite Poe poems, or telling someone a good ghost story. This word has much more weight in it than your usual "scary" or "ghostly" or "ghastly." Most other words related to gloom and Halloween have lost their edge, but pull out "sepulchral" for special occassions to get people on their toes. Don't forget sepulchrally. A really good synonym (and heavy-weight contender for today's title) is charnel n., adj. (CHAR-nel) (A repository for the bones or bodies of the dead; a charnel house. Resembling, suggesting, or suitable for receiving the dead). Charnel comes, in root, from carnale and carnalis meaning "of the flesh." Related words are: carnage, carnivore. You know, there was an Old English word flæschus meaning "flesh-house." Talk about an abattoir (a word that, to me, always seemed much more relaxed and sophisticated than it should have been, given its meaning).
It's a 2-for-1 Halloween special!!!! Walk sepulchrally!
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