zombie

American  

[zom-bee] / ˈzɒm bi /

Rarely zombi

noun

• zombies
  plural

1. (in Vodou)

   1. a mute and will-less body, robbed of its soul and given the semblance of life by a supernatural force, usually for manual labor or some evil purpose.

   2. the supernatural force itself.

2. (in popular culture) an undead creature with a reanimated human body, typically depicted in science fiction or horror stories as contagious to the living by bite and vulnerable only to serious head trauma.

   In the movie, survivors of the apocalypse try to build a barricade to keep the zombies out.

3. Informal.

   1. a person whose behavior or responses are wooden, listless, or seemingly rote; automaton.

   2. an eccentric or peculiar person.

4. a snake god worshiped in West Indian and Brazilian religious practices of African origin.

5. a tall drink made typically with several kinds of rum, citrus juice, and often apricot liqueur.

6. Canadian Slang. an army conscript assigned to home defense during World War II.

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adjective

1. of or relating to something that was declared concluded, finished, or dead, but surprisingly continues to linger, or comes back in a different version: resuscitating zombie corporations through debt restructuring;

   zombie legislation that was defeated last session;

   resuscitating zombie corporations through debt restructuring;

   a zombie ex who texts you out of the blue looking for a hookup.

zombie British  

/ ˈzɒmbɪ /

noun

1. a person who is or appears to be lifeless, apathetic, or totally lacking in independent judgment; automaton

2. a supernatural spirit that reanimates a dead body

3. a corpse brought to life in this manner

4. the snake god of voodoo cults in the West Indies, esp Haiti, and in scattered areas of the southern US

5. the python god revered in parts of West Africa

6. a piece of computer code that instructs an infected computer to send a virus on to other computer systems

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• zombiism
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• zombies
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of zombie

First recorded in 1810–20; from Louisiana French, Haitian Creole zonbi, from a Bantu language, e.g., Kongo nzambi “god,” zumbi “fetish,” or Kimbundu nzambi “god”

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Explanation

If you've ever watched a zombie movie, you know that a zombie is a terrifying but slow-moving monster, a dead body that moves as if it's alive and has a taste for human flesh. There is an entire literary genre that features zombies and the people who are hunting or fighting them off, as well as scores of films about zombies. A zombie is an ideal movie monster, horrible to look at and nearly impossible to kill. The word zombie comes from West Africa, related to both the Kikongo word zumbi, or "fetish," and the Kimbundu word nzambi, or "god."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

zombie zombies

My neighbor showed me his kids’ Halloween costumes today; a vampire, a zombie and a clown.

From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026

To protect jobs, municipal officials keep dozens of zombie brands on life support.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

Seven studies from Mayo Clinic are revealing new details about senescent cells, often called "zombie" cells because they stop dividing but remain active in the body.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 27, 2026

The post-apocalyptic zombie experience 'Salvation-Z' is run by Gloucester Prison Events at the defunct prison and employs around 30 actors from the local area, according to actor manager Clive Barzillia.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

“Whatever. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go finish defending Earth from a zombie invasion. Because that’s the kind of twenty-first-century skills we’re learning here at Riverview Middle School.”

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein

"Valor Mortis" by the Polish studio One More Level shows Napoleon's 19th century army fuelled by a mysterious substance that makes them stronger before turning them into zombies and half-animal creatures.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

They worked as professional zombies for a company that ran zombie survival horror experience days.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

The 30-year-old navigator from rural Bangladesh normally passes seatime evading zombies on the videogame Minecraft.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 2026

At first, the not-so-original idea that phones have turned children into zombies is a Romero-style parody of brain rot.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2026

There was a knock at the door and in came another of the zombies.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

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Related Words

• demon
• devil
• phantom
• shadow
• soul
• specter
• vampire
• vision

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