corpse
gb/kˈɔɹps/ us/kˈɔɹps/
B1
English
~ 4800
holttest, hulla
NOUN
B1
1
Usage pattern:
[a/the] corpse
The police discovered a corpse in the abandoned house.
A rendőrség egy holttestet talált az elhagyatott házban.
Flies buzzed around the rotting corpse.
Legyek zümmögtek az oszló holttest körül.
The movie opened with a shot of a corpse floating in the river.
She felt sick at the sight of the corpse.
The soldiers buried the corpses after the battle.
Learner examples
The police found a corpse in the park.
A rendőrség egy holttestet talált a parkban.
A corpse was lying on the road.
Egy holttest feküdt az úton.
They buried the corpse in the ground.
The man saw a corpse in the river.
Common mistake:
Learners sometimes confuse 'corpse' with 'carcass', which is usually used for dead animals, not humans.
Meaning
A dead human body
Collocations
find a corpse
|bury a corpse
|police found the corpse
|corpse of a man
|corpse lying on the ground
Synonyms
body (A more general and neutral term; can refer to living or dead bodies.)
|
cadaver (A formal or technical term, often used in medical or forensic contexts.)
Antonyms
living person (Refers to someone who is alive, the opposite state of a corpse.)
Themes
death
|crime
|medicine
|health
|body
|core_vocabulary
Definition
The body of a person who is no longer alive.
The body of a person who has died.
Grammar
Dictionary form
corpse
IPA
GB/kˈɔɹps/
US/kˈɔɹps/
Syllables & stress
corpse (1 syllable)
Stress on 1st syllable (corpse)
Word forms
Noun
- Base: corpse
- Plural: corpses
Word family
Forms
corpses
noun
Expressions
corpse bride
1/kˈɔɹps bɹˈaɪd/
fixed phrase
literary
A bride who is dead
A woman who is going to be married but is dead, often used in stories or films.
Examples
- The gothic tale tells of a corpse bride who returns from the grave.
- The film 'Corpse Bride' is a dark romantic fantasy.
like a corpse
1/lˈaɪk ə kˈɔɹps/
fixed phrase
Looking or lying like a dead body
Looking very pale, still, and without movement, like someone who is dead.
Examples
- He lay there like a corpse, not moving at all.
- After the long race, she was stretched out on the grass like a corpse.