Carrion

/ˈkæ.ɹɪ.ən/ · noun

Meaning

Rotting flesh of a dead animal or person..

Definitions by Sense

1. Rotting flesh of a dead animal or person.
2. Corrupt or horrid matter.
3. Filth, garbage.
4. The flesh of a living human body; also (Christianity), sinful human nature.
5. A dead body; a carcass, a corpse.
6. An animal which is in poor condition or worthless; also, an animal which is a pest or vermin.
7. A contemptible or worthless person.
8. (chiefly derogatory) Pertaining to, or made up of, rotting flesh.

Example Sentences

Vultures feed on carrion.

[W]ee ſee by experience, that ſome [brute beasts] feedeth on yͤ graſſe in yͤ fyelds ſome liues in the ayre eating flyes, others vpon yͤ wormes in carin, others wͭ [with] that they fynd vnder the water.

[W]hat disordered slippery decks of a whale-ship are comparable to the unspeakable carrion of those battle-fields from which so many soldiers return to drink in all ladies' plaudits?

He brought down with him to our haunted house a little cask of salt beef; for, he is always convinced that all salt beef not of his own pickling, is mere carrion, and invariably, when he goes to London, packs a piece in his portmanteau.

And the butterflies are flaunting across the rides in the Forest. Perhaps the Purple Emperor is feasting, as Morris says, upon a mass of putrid carrion at the base of an oak tree.

[T]here are melancholy sceptics with a taste for carrion who batten on the hideous facts in history,—persecutions, inquisitions, St. Bartholomew massacres, devilish lives, […]

Roman fashionable society hated Cæsar, and any carrion was welcome to them which would taint his reputation.

Shy[lock]. My ovvne fleſh and blood to rebell. / Salan[io]. Out vpon it old carrion, rebels it as theſe yeares.

Synonyms for carrion

Antonyms for carrion

Related Words

Word Forms

• carrions
• more carrion
• most carrion

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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