Cadaver Definition:

Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary suggests that the term is derived from the Latin term cadere which means to fall, to perish.

The same publication defines a cadaver as:

"... a dead body; corpse; generally applied to a human body preserved for anatomical study."

The Attorney's Dictionary of Medicine defines a cadaver as:

".... the dead body of a human being; the dead body of a human being as a subject for anatomical dissection, as by medical students."

In that regard, cadaver is synonymous with corpse except as to the destination of the corpse; a cadaver is destined for medical dissection, a corpse if destined for burial or cremation.

REFERENCES:

• Dorland, I., Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 28th Edition (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co., 1994), page 244.
• Schmidt, J. E., Attorney's Dictionary of Medicine (San Fransisco, LexisNexis, 2009), Volume 1, page C-4.