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# corpse

«corpse» in Mova's school dictionary: **The dead body of a person, and sometimes of an animal** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a corpse, corpses)

### meaning for a pupil

1) The dead body of a person, and sometimes of an animal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/corpse/#m1)

2) (UK, slang, theatre) To «corpse» is to burst out laughing by accident while acting, when you should be serious. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/corpse/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In stories, especially mysteries, ghost stories and history (wars, plagues), «corpse» tells the reader someone has died; it is a stark, grim word. Gentler words are «body» or «remains». In science it may come up with decomposers and fossils. Phrase: «as pale as a corpse».

### examples

- The detective found a corpse in the library. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/corpse/#x1)
- The old story tells of a corpse that walked at night. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/corpse/#x2)
- Flies laid their eggs on the bird's corpse. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/corpse/#x3)
- Egyptians wrapped a corpse in cloth to make a mummy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/corpse/#x4)
- He looked as pale as a corpse after the roller coaster. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/corpse/#x5)
- The actor corpsed and couldn't stop giggling on stage. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/corpse/#x6)
- They both bent over the corpse. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/corpse/#x7)

### note

Countable: one corpse, two corpses. Do not confuse with «corps» (said «core», a group of soldiers or workers, as in «Marine Corps»). «Corpse» is a strong word; for a family member people say «body» or «passed away».

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «corpse» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/corpse/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.