cadaver

American  

[kuh-dav-er] / kəˈdæv ər /

noun

• cadavers
  plural

1. a dead body, especially a human body to be dissected; corpse.

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cadaver British  

/ kəˈdeɪvə, -ˈdɑːv- /

noun

1. med a corpse

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Usage

What is a cadaver? A cadaver is a dead body, especially a dead human body. The word cadaver is sometimes used interchangeably with the word corpse, but cadaver is especially used in a scientific context to refer to a body that is the subject of scientific study or medical use, such as one that will be dissected. It’s sometimes used as a modifier (adjective) in phrases that involve cadavers. For example, cadaver tissue is tissue that has been harvested from a donor body. A cadaver dog is a dog that has been specially trained to track the scent of dead bodies in searches for missing persons. Example: The cadavers are carefully preserved before they are prepared for dissection.

Synonym Usage

See body.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• cadaveric
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cadavers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of cadaver

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin cadāver dead body, corpse; akin to cadere to fall, perish ( see decay, chance)

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Explanation

A cadaver is a dead human body used in scientific or medical research. If you are dead, you are a corpse, but if Dr. Frankenstein robs your grave so he can use your body for research, you become a cadaver. Umm... congratulations? Cadaver comes from the Latin verb, cadere, which means “to fall." Its English origins refer to soldiers who died in battle, i.e. the fallen. Dissection of a cadaver is a major rite of passage for medical school students––some have been known to run from the room and throw up — though most surprise themselves.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cadaver cadavers

Sheriff’s cadaver dogs, deputies with shovels and a backhoe were seen at work.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

When the mummy was found in 1991, it was initially treated as a normal cadaver.

From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026

He can also use a state-of-the-art cadaver lab, a rarity for undergraduates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025

Several generations may occur in the insect's cadaver until the juvenile worms emerge into the environment to infect other insects with bacteria.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2025

Holmes claimed to have secured a cadaver that resembled Ben Pitezel and to have placed it on the second floor of a house rented especially for the fraud.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Much of early topographical anatomy – the careful mapping of structures in relation to one another – depended on cadavers obtained through grave robbery.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 21, 2026

However, some of this research -- particularly one claiming to have found a plastic spoon's worth of microplastic in the brains of cadavers -- has recently come under stinging criticism from scientists.

From Barron's ● Jan. 27, 2026

Over the next century, more than 20 such disturbances broke out across the U.S.—in Baltimore, Cleveland, St. Louis and elsewhere—as demand for doctors, and cadavers, spiked in the quickly growing nation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026

In the experiment, human blood was used in four different cadavers.

From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2025

But the Chinchorro attracted sustained attention only in 1983, when ninety-six superbly preserved cadavers were discovered beneath a massif that rises above downtown Arica, Chile.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

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Related Words

• carcass
• corpse
• skeleton

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