Word.ws English Dictionary

breaks rigor

breaks rigor is the third-person singular simple present indicative of break rigor.

Meaning of break rigor

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
  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

Questions about breaks rigor

What is breaks rigor the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Breaks rigor is the third-person singular simple present indicative of break rigor.

Words near breaks rigor in the dictionary

  1. breaks one's stride
  2. breaks one's word
  3. breaks open
  4. breaks out
  5. breaks ranks
  6. breaks rigor
  7. breaks shins
  8. breaks someone's back
  9. breaks someone's balls
  10. breaks someone's face
  11. breaks someone's heart

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: breaks rigor (page history and authors); 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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