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Gaunt vs Cadaverous - What's the difference?

gaunt | cadaverous | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between gaunt and cadaverous

is that gaunt is lean, angular, and bony while cadaverous is corpselike; hinting of death; imitating a cadaver.

gaunt

English

Alternative forms

* (l) * (l) (Scotland)

Adjective

(er)
  • lean, angular and bony
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1894 , author=Joseph Jacobs , title=The Fables of Aesop , chapter=1 citation , passage=A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to meet a House-dog who was passing by.}}
  • haggard, drawn and emaciated
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1917 , author=Arthur Conan Doyle , title=His Last Bow , chapter=5 citation , passage=In the dim light of a foggy November day the sick room was a gloomy spot, but it was that gaunt , wasted face staring at me from the bed which sent a chill to my heart.}}
  • bleak, barren and desolate
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1908 , author=William Hope Hodgson , title=The House on the Borderland , chapter=14 citation , passage=Behind me, rose up, to an extraordinary height, gaunt , black cliffs. }}

    Synonyms

    * scraggy, scrawny, skinny

    cadaverous

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Corpselike; hinting of death; imitating a cadaver.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
    • , chapter=4, title= A Cuckoo in the Nest , passage=By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.}}

    Synonyms

    * See also

    See also

    * cadaverously