cankered
Americanadjective
-
morally corrupt.
-
(of plants)
-
destroyed or having portions destroyed by the feeding of a cankerworm.
-
having a cankerous part; infected with a canker.
-
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cankered
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at canker, -ed 3
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.
He has suffered for it: his health debilitated by frequent hunger strikes, his knees cankered with sores from long sessions of prayer, according to prison officials.
From Time ● Jul. 28, 2010
Hamlet paused before coming to his point “I wish to discover whether a surgeon, by cutting out the cankered spot, could restore the vital spirit to perfection.”
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
He was a tailor in the Parish of Crail, famous for fish and herrings—a real cankered body, but with about an equal quantity of humour or malevolent wit.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 13 by Various
Ye think me, my lord, a silly and cankered auld haveril, and that my head is full of prejudices and fancies.
From Graham of Claverhouse by Maclaren, Ian
Though the child might pine and droop like a cankered rosebud, yet he would never cease to regard the sanctity of his oath as eternally binding.
From Carmen Ariza by Stocking, Charles Francis
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.
