corpse

American  

[kawrps] / kɔrps /

noun

• corpses
  plural

1. a dead body, usually of a human being.

   Synonyms:

   cadaver

2. something no longer useful or viable.

   rusting corpses of old cars.

3. Obsolete. a human or animal body, whether alive or dead.

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corpse British  

/ kɔːps /

noun

1. a dead body, esp of a human being; cadaver

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verb

1. slang theatre to laugh or cause to laugh involuntarily or inopportunely while on stage

Synonym Usage

See body.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• corpses
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of corpse

First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English corps; originally spelling variant of cors ( see corse) but the p is now sounded

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Explanation

Another name for a dead body is corpse. You might hear the word on TV crime shows, but a corpse doesn't have to be a crime victim, just any lifeless body. The words corpse and "corps" are often confused, and with good reason — both came from the Latin word corpus, meaning "body," and up until the 19th Century, both referred to a dead person. Around that time, the word with the "e" at the end was established as the word for a person's remains, while the other spelling was relegated to a "body" of people working together or in a military division, and very much alive!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

corpse corpses

Instead it’s a tender ballad in which the schoolmistressy secretary Hester Leggatt sings an imagined love letter to be planted on a corpse to add verisimilitude to the dead man’s manufactured life story.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

There, at a tombstone whose name is illegible, the inspector and his crew find a corpse in a tweed suit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

But when Henry Clayton’s Armani-clad corpse washes up on the beach, one person is certain he didn’t take his own life.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

Corpse flowers have been a staple of the Huntington since 1999, when the garden exhibited its first corpse flower.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

Since photography was expensive, the only image parents often had was of their child’s corpse.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

Yet even if not by design, “Night of the Living Dead” gave audiences something new, and enduring, to fear: reanimated corpses insatiable in their cannibalistic appetites.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

Khanal also called for forensic testing kits to identify corpses and freezer units to store them, saying bodies that have been in water could decompose at a faster rate.

From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026

Burials must be strictly supervised as the virus spreads by contact with bodily fluids, meaning corpses can remain contagious.

From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026

Sometimes known as "Doctor Death", he became famous for developing a technique called plastination, by which fluids and fatty tissue in corpses are replaced by rubber and polymers.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

The theoretical corpses laughed and ate a hearty noontime meal.

From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut

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Related Words

• body
• cadaver
• carcass
• remains

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