cadaver
Americannoun
noun
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.
Related Words
See body.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cadaver
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin cadāver dead body, corpse; akin to cadere to fall, perish ( see decay, chance)
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.
Vocabulary lists containing cadaver
Walk Two Moons
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Persepolis
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The Hot Zone
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Sheriff’s deputies even used ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs to search the property of his father, Ruben Flores, in Arroyo Grande in 2021.
From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2026
Despite its elaborate conceit, “Godfall” turns out to be a solid police-procedural rooted in a sensitive depiction of small-town life turned upside-down by a cosmic cadaver.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026
A third group of six cadaver donors provided additional skin samples to strengthen the control group.
From Science Daily • Dec. 15, 2025
“They brought in two cadaver dogs looking to see if anyone was still trapped under the rubble, and the dogs cleared everything,” Hurd said.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2025
In between school and schoolwork, Theresa pitched in, happy to get away from her cadaver.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
