CADAVEROUS Synonyms: 90 Similar and Opposite Words

cadaverous

adjective

kə-ˈdav-rəs

Definition of cadaverous

as in pallid

lacking a healthy skin color everyone always looks cadaverous in the winter

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in gaunt

suffering extreme weight loss as a result of hunger or disease a cadaverous cancer patient living out his final days with dignity and courage

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of cadaverous Die große Nacht im Eimer (The Big Night Down the Drain), made that year, depicts a figure of indiscernible age with a cadaverous pallor and yellow splotches, brandishing an oversized phallus beneath a soot-black veil. — Tessa Solomon, ARTnews.com, 30 Apr. 2026 As the hulking creature, the Australian star appears to have pale, cadaverous skin with lacerations across it and long, stringy hair. — Jack Smart, PEOPLE, 24 Oct. 2025 Plus, the kid isn’t dead either, as his flailing pale self that looks on the verge of the cadaverous pops out of the trunk Jack shoves him in. — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 1 Sep. 2024 Moreover, keeping the cadaverous Biden in the White House is a daily reminder to the American people of the feebleness and anemia of the Democratic Party, which taints Harris by association. — Armstrong Williams, Baltimore Sun, 23 July 2024 Concluding that the medical students and obstetricians were causing puerperal fever in their pregnant patients by infecting them with cadaverous particles on their hands, Semmelweis instituted some harsh protocols. — Sabrina Sholts, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Mar. 2024 Looking at that picture, the back of Biden's neck looks cadaverous. — Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review, 30 Oct. 2023 Then those cadaverous mistakes are doing them in and losing games. — Sportsday Staff, Dallas News, 25 May 2023 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for cadaverous

Adjective

The pallid grayness of Mike Eley’s cinematography is probably supposed to mimic the finality of HIV/AIDS taking hold, but there’s no passion aesthetically to counterbalance what becomes absolute misery onscreen to watch.

— Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2026
Young people in particular have soured on the technology over the last year, a development that may at least partially be explained by a pallid entry-level job market.

— T.M. Brown, CNN Money, 17 Aug. 2026

Definition of pallid

Adjective

The group last played a public show on July 18 in Valdosta, Georgia, following an uneven few months where Love appeared gaunt and sang in a raspy, diminished voice.

— Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 6 Oct. 2026
Apple was widely criticized in the late 2000s for not volunteering more information about Jobs’ health, especially as concerns about his gaunt appearance battered the company’s shares.

— Allison Morrow, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of gaunt

Adjective

Its exterior styling is modern and Scandinavian-like, with a steel base, pale thermally treated timber, and a metal roof.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 23 Oct. 2026
Social media posts claim that the signs of iron deficiency, including a pale complexion, hair loss and dry skin are identifiable as ferritin face.

— Amanda Schupak, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of pale

Adjective

Walk past a guard wolf to see a potion brewing, a spidery scenario in the yard, gothic graves, a skeletal spot in one corner and plenty of gore on the porch.

— Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 22 Oct. 2026
Only shattered glass and the skeletal frame of the Haussmannian roof remain of Limoges’ 19th century town hall.

— Mithil Aggarwal, NBC news, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of skeletal

Adjective

The songs on Purdy also have the tone of journal entries, detailing haggard trips to the grocery store, daydreams about his young daughters’ glamorous adult lives, and observations about the banality of oppression.

— Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 15 Oct. 2026
Xbox, despite its increasingly haggard reputation, has announced backwards compatibility for PC.

— Mitch Wallace, Forbes.com, 23 July 2026

Definition of haggard

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cadaver

cadaverous

cadavers

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“Cadaverous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cadaverous. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of cadaverous

adjective

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