corpse
Americannoun
-
a dead body, usually of a human being.
- Synonyms:
- cadaver
-
something no longer useful or viable.
rusting corpses of old cars.
-
Obsolete. a human or animal body, whether alive or dead.
noun
verb
Related Words
See body.
Etymology
Origin of corpse
First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English corps; originally spelling variant of cors ( corse ) but the p is now sounded
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.
No images have been released in public of his corpse and a state funeral that was supposed to have been held earlier this month has been postponed indefinitely.
From Barron's • Mar. 13, 2026
And there’s this one, a pioneering one in California criminal law: a crime even without a corpse, the body of evidence — the corpus delicti.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 21, 2026
These exercises, including games of exquisite corpse, released something fantastical in Lam.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 31, 2026
Doctors need to know how the human body is put together, and there is no substitute for dissecting a corpse and looking inside.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 5, 2026
Lazlo and Minya faced each other, and they might have been strangers, but there was more between them than the corpse of Sarai.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
