Word.ws English Dictionary

exquisite corpses

exquisite corpses is the plural of exquisite corpse.

Meaning of exquisite corpse

Noun

exquisite corpse (countable and uncountable, plural exquisite corpses)

  1. (uncountable) A 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
  2. (countable) A 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

Questions about exquisite corpses

What is exquisite corpses the plural of?
Exquisite corpses is the plural of exquisite corpse.

Words near exquisite corpses in the dictionary

  1. exquired
  2. exquires
  3. exquiring
  4. exquisite
  5. exquisite corpse
  6. exquisite corpses
  7. exquisitely
  8. exquisiteness
  9. exquisitenesses
  10. exquisites
  11. exquisition

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: exquisite corpses (page history and authors); exquisite corpse (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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