Word.ws English Dictionary

break rigor

break rigor verb: to manipulate a corpse in which rigor mortis has set in, (by massage, flexing joints, or brute force) in order to change the position of the body.

Verb

break rigor (third-person singular simple present breaks rigor, present participle breaking rigor, simple past broke rigor, past participle broken rigor)

  1. (mortuary technology) To manipulate a corpse in which rigor mortis has set in, (by massage, flexing joints, or brute force) in order to change the position of the body.
    • They must have pushed pretty hard to break rigor in the shoulder.1992, Catherine Lewis, Judith Guerin, Not in Single Spies, page 85
    • There are postmortem bruises on the legs and arms that show where pressure was applied to break rigor.1997, William Heffernan, Winter's Gold, page 90
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see break, rigor.
    • Compassionate mercy breaks rigor; but mercy is so good that sometimes it takes away initiative, and doesn't allow anyone to do anything.1977, Parabola - Volume 2, page 90

Examples of break rigor in a sentence

  • I've heard the loud crack of this myself, although I've never been strong enough actually to break rigor, and I've never had reason to.2017, Carla Valentine, Past Mortems: Life and death behind mortuary doors:
  • I needed him to lie flat for the post-mortem and so I had to break rigor.2018, Dr Richard Shepherd, Unnatural Causes:

Forms of break rigor

third-person singular presentbreaks rigor
present participlebreaking rigor
pastbroke rigor
past participlebroken rigor

Questions about break rigor

What does break rigor mean?
Break rigor means to manipulate a corpse in which rigor mortis has set in, (by massage, flexing joints, or brute force) in order to change the position of the body.
How do you use break rigor in a sentence?
I've heard the loud crack of this myself, although I've never been strong enough actually to break rigor, and I've never had reason to.
What part of speech is break rigor?
Break rigor is a verb.
What is the past tense of break rigor?
The past tense of break rigor is broke rigor.

Words near break rigor in the dictionary

  1. break out
  2. break point
  3. break points
  4. break ranks
  5. break reality
  6. break rigor
  7. break room
  8. break rooms
  9. break sheer
  10. break shins
  11. break silence

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: break rigor (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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