Obituary

How it is used

Use for a reported life account; a family's paid death notice is a different kind of publication.

Example sentences

1. Her obituary described the engineer's role in rebuilding the city's water network.

   The account places the person's achievements within a wider public history.

2. The reporter checked the birth date with two relatives before filing the obituary.

   A commemorative purpose does not remove the need for factual checking.

Common collocations

• write an obituary
• publish an obituary
• obituary writer

Related terms

• featureA longer article that explores a person, place, trend or issue in depth, often with description, background and human stories rather than only the latest facts.
• accuracyThe quality of being correct in every fact, name, number and quote, which is the first duty of a journalist in most codes of practice.

More terms: Story Types and Opinion

• editorial
• column
• columnist
• op-ed
• investigative journalism
• tick-tock
• sidebar
• news brief
• service journalism
• solutions journalism
• horse-race journalism
• explainer