Meanings
plural exquisite corpses
- uncountableA collective art game in which several collaborating artists assemble a sentence or image, usually by following a prompt, or being allowed to see the only last contribution.
[…]had collaborated on the Surrealist game of cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse), in which artists made collective collages of words or images.
1983, Janet A. Kaplan, Remedios Varo (1913–1963): Spanish-born Mexican Painter, Woman Among the Surrealists, page 25 - countableA sentence or image created as a result of this game.
Breton insisted that the collective endeavor to compose an exquisite corpse leads to a pool of epiphanies, analogies, connections that would have been impossible otherwise.
2019, Kate Haanzalik, Nathalie Virgintino, editors, Exquisite Corpse: Studio Art-Based Writing Practices in the Academy, Parlor Press LLC, →ISBN, page xvi
Origin
- Frenchcadavre exquis
- Englishexquisite corpse
Calque of French cadavre exquis. First coined in 1925 by surrealists André Breton, Marcel Duhamel, Jacques Prévert, and Yves Tanguy in a similar manner to consequences; the first example was constructed from the following prompt: Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau (“the exquisite corpse will drink new wine”).
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French cadavre exquis
- cadavre exquisart game
Cite this entry
exquisite corpse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exquisite%20corpse
“exquisite corpse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exquisite%20corpse. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “exquisite corpse,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exquisite%20corpse.
Source: exquisite corpse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.