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Definition of "cadaverous" [ca•dav•er•ous]

  • Suggestive of death; corpselike: a cadaverous odor. (adjective)
  • Of corpselike pallor; pallid: "I saw a cadaverous face appear at a small window” ( Charles Dickens). (adjective)
  • Emaciated; gaunt: a cadaverous mongrel picking through the garbage. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "cadaverous" in a sentence
  • "I keep thinking the word cadaverous but I know that’s wrong because I just like saying cadavers."
  • "Those hells are therefore named accordingly; some are called cadaverous, some stercoraceous, some urinous, and so on."
  • "Before he went, he formally thanked his wife -- who hardly spoke to him unless she was obliged -- for her attention to his mother, and then lingered a little, looking no less "cadaverous," certainly, than when he had gone away, and apparently desiring to say more."