Corpus vile

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For the hardcore punk band, see Corpus Vile (band).

Corpus vile (pronounced /ˈkɔɹpəs ˈvile/, plural corpora vilia) is a Latin phrase for "worthless body", referring to a person, animal or thing treated as expendable, to therefore use as an experimental subject regardless of whatever loss or damage it may suffer as a result.

It also has metaphoric uses; for example, "The image of Shakespeare's works has suffered in many people's minds because of it being much used as a corpus vile for school teaching."