deceased
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
Synonym Usage
See dead.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of deceased
Explanation
When someone is deceased, they are dead — not dying or even just about to die. They are dead. The word deceased has been around since the 15th century, however, when people talk of someone's having died, they rarely use deceased in conversation. For example, if you ask someone how their dog is and their dog is recently deceased, they'll most likely use a less technical phrase such as "no longer with us," or "passed away." The word deceased is more formal, and most often used in the documentation of death or in legal situations, as in "we are here to read the will of the deceased."
Vocabulary lists containing deceased
Salt to the Sea
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"Superman and Me" and "A Smart Cookie/It's Our Story, Too"
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The War I Finally Won
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
According to an ECI breakdown seen by AFP, around 28 million entries were classified as belonging to deceased voters and 10.4 million as duplicates, while millions of others were marked as absent, shifted or untraceable.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Because a survivor’s benefit is based on the deceased spouse’s claiming age, a delay by the higher earner also means a larger benefit for the surviving spouse.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
After a concertgoer died in the audience at a Carson music festival on Saturday, an artist is outraged the show continued while the deceased was still on-site.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Last year, India’s election authority embarked on a sweeping program to clean up voter lists across the country, arguing the move was required to preserve electoral integrity by, for instance, removing fraudulent or deceased voters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
The deceased was the tragic hero, the survivors the innocent victims; there was the omnipresence of the deity, strophe and antistrophe of the chorus of mourners led by the preacher.
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
