cadaverous

adjective

ca·dav·er·ous kə-ˈdav-rəs

-ˈda-vər-əs

Synonyms of cadaverous next

: of or relating to a corpse

the cadaverous odors of the battlefield

: suggestive of corpses or tombs

: pallid, livid

: gaunt, emaciated

grossly underweight, he appeared cadaverous, like a living skeleton

cadaverously adverb

Example Sentences

A tall, cadaverous man led us into the library. everyone always looks cadaverous in the winter

Recent Examples on the Web Then those cadaverous mistakes are doing them in and losing games. —

Sportsday Staff, Dallas News, 25 May 2023 Season 2 picks up 10 years after Sam Walker (Sprouse) discovered the unspeakable secrets of Drisking, Mo., when a ghost of the past arrives to drag him back for revenge — and back to the cadaverous forests that color his nightmares… and back to the gates of Borrasca. —

Todd Spangler, Variety, 31 Mar. 2022 An earlier study suggested that the assassin bug’s cadaverous backpack protected it from other predators and now, Jackson and Pollard have tested this theory by pitting the bugs against jumping spiders. —

Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 4 Oct. 2010 And despite their cadaverous appearances, vultures are actually very hygienic animals. —

William H. Funk, Discover Magazine, 4 Apr. 2016 Or the way that Morticia, voiced by Charlize Theron in the most musical of aristocratic purrs, doesn’t just walk but glides around in her cadaverous skin-tight dress that drapes over the floor in trails that look like black silk octopus legs. —

Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 1 Oct. 2021 Slim to the point of cadaverous, intense, hawk-faced, almost totally bald, and sporting a bristling red mustache, Douri's devotion to Saddam was absolute and enforced with the loyalty and rigor of the fanatic. —

Philip Terzian, Washington Examiner, 5 Nov. 2020 Though most people look less cartoonish up close the president somehow looks more so: the preposterous hair and the radioactive orange glow and the black overcoat and lumpy cadaverous face. —

Ben H. Winters, Slate Magazine, 31 Jan. 2017 At first glance the shrunken, somewhat cadaverous man who stood before the court seemed like a startled rabbit. —

National Geographic, 27 Apr. 2017 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cadaverous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.