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

The wound has cankered and brought on a touch of fever.

From The Last of the Vikings by Bowling, John

Their gold is cankered, and their soul is brass,—is rusted brass.

From The Trial of Theodore Parker For the "Misdemeanor" of a Speech in Faneuil Hall against Kidnapping, before the Circuit Court of the United States, at Boston, April 3, 1855, with the Defence by Parker, Theodore

The Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays was made an excuse for dissecting the morals and understanding of this “poor cankered creature.”

From Leigh Hunt's Relations with Byron, Shelley and Keats by Miller, Barnette