Make Your Point > Archived Issues > CADAVEROUS

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pronounce CADAVEROUS: Say it "kuh DAV uh russ." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: If something seems weak and unhealthy, as if in dire need of a blood transfusion, you might call it _n_m_c. If it seems even worse, as if in dire need of some meat on its bones, you might call it _m_c__t_d. And if it's even worse than that, as if only a miracle could bring it back to life, you might call it cadaverous. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)  definition: The word "cadaver" comes straight from Latin and means "dead body." It might trace back to the Latin verb cadere, meaning "to fall, or less literally, to die." In English, "cadaver" is the more technical, medical, or scientific term for "corpse" or "dead body." And something cadaverous reminds you of a dead body, usually because it's bony or pale. grammatical bits: Part of speech: Adjective: "a cadaverous face;" "The creatures seem cadaverous." Other forms:  Cadaver(s), cadaverously, cadaverousness. how to use it: The semi-common word "cadaverous" is so spooky and so creepy that it's often cartoonish. It helps you exaggerate just how deathly pale or deathly skinny someone (or something) seems. You might talk about cadaverous faces, bodies, figures, eyes, skin, complexions, or even odors. And to get figurative, you might talk about cadaverous towns, companies, or principles: those that seem to have wasted away into living skeletons. examples: "He was cadaverously thin, his face frozen in an expression of horror, his mouth hanging open in what looked like a scream."    — Alex Lickerman, Slate, 24 February 2015 "'I don't recognise the zombie you turn into,' wails Kylie on Get Outta My Way. But this is not the story of one lady's heart-palpitating escape from a shambling legion of the brain-eating living dead. It is – as is so often the case with pop songs – a metaphor for love, and falling out of love, and all that stuff. Disappointing news for lovers of chilling cadaverous terror."     — Louis Pattison, The Guardian, 24 September 2010 has this page helped you understand "cadaverous"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "cadaverous" without saying "skeletal" or "withering away." try it out: If you've seen any Tim Burton movies, you've seen plenty of cadaverous characters. At StudioBinder.com, Chris Heckmann argues that these characters have such cadaverous appearances for good reason. The pale skin, the hollow cheeks, the sunken eyes and all that are "a smokescreen, hiding their innate human side," Heckmann says. In other words, the cadaverous look is just a way to ironically highlight how very human, alive, and vibrant the character truly is. Could you buy into that theory? Or do you think the cadaverous imagery just plays into our love of spookiness? Do you enjoy movies with this kind of cadaverous aesthetic? Why or why not? If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game for September is "Four Quick Ways to Wreck a Sentence: From Professionally Polished to Strategically Sabotaged." In each issue this month, compare two versions of a description of a popular movie. See if you can determine which is the real one (the professionally polished version from IMDB.com) and which is the fake one (the strategically sabotaged version from yours truly). The fake one will demonstrate one of the four quick ways to wreck a sentence, listed below. So, for an extra challenge, see if you can identify which of these four has been employed in the act of sabotage. Here are the four quick ways to wreck a sentence: 1. Make the details fuzzier or fewer. 2. Jumble the order of information, forcing the reader to slow down or back up. 3. Ruin the rhythm by breaking a pattern in a pair or list. 4. Make the whole thing a chore to read by swapping in a subject that's long or abstract, and/or a verb that's vague or passive. Make it even worse by pushing the subject and the verb really far away from each other. (Naturally, if you invert each item above, you get Four Quick Ways to Strengthen a Sentence.) Here's an example: Version A: "The Shawshank Redemption: Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency." Version B: "The Shawshank Redemption: Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding eventual redemption and solace through acts of common decency." Which is real, and which is fake? And in the fake one, which of the four quick ways to wreck a sentence have I employed? Answer: A is real; B is fake. The fake was created with #2, "Jumble the order of information." Readers find it easier to process information when it's in a logical or chronological order, and when they can start with the shorter, simpler words and phrases before moving on to the longer, more complex ones. Here, it's better to write "solace and eventual redemption" instead of "eventual redemption and solace," for three reasons. One, the characters in the story probably achieve solace before they achieve redemption; two, solace as a concept is less intense and less abstract than redemption; and three, "solace" is many syllables shorter than "eventual redemption." Try this one today: Version A: "The Return of the King: Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from the hobbits as they approach Mount Doom with the Ring." Version B: "The Return of the King: Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring." Which is real, and which is fake? And in the fake one, which of the four quick ways to wreck a sentence have I employed? To see the answers, scroll all the way down. review this word: 1. Some opposites of CADAVEROUS include A. SLIM and PINCHED. B. BUXOM and FLORID. C. BEEFY and IMPOSING. 2. Washington Irving wrote: "He has a cadaverous countenance, full of _____." A. dimples and rolls B. cavities and projections C. impishly concealed laughter Answers to review questions: 1. B 2. B Answers to the game question: A is fake; B is real. The fake was created with #3, "Ruin the rhythm by breaking a pattern in a pair or list." Readers enjoy the poetry of the parallelism, even if the enjoyment is only subconscious: "Gandalf and Aragorn," "Frodo and Sam;" "Mount Doom," "One Ring." a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.