cankered

American  

[kang-kerd] / ˈkæŋ kərd /

adjective

1. morally corrupt.

2. bad-tempered.

3. (of plants)

   1. destroyed or having portions destroyed by the feeding of a cankerworm.

   2. having a cankerous part; infected with a canker.

4. ulcerated.

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Other Word Forms

• cankeredly adverb
• cankeredness noun
• uncankered adjective

Etymology

Origin of cankered

late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at canker, -ed ³

Example Sentences

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

One of them spoke of such charming impudence, and George looked at her with his cankered eye.

From A Yankee from the West A Novel by Read, Opie Percival

She is worm eaten and cankered because she has devastated nature, and it is all her own fault.

From The Colored Girl Beautiful by Hackley, E. Azalia

But the cracky-stool was but the beginnin o' her drivin; there wasna a week after that but she let flee at me whatever cam in the way, whenever I by accident crossed her cankered humour.

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 8 by Various