clinically dead

British

adjective

having no respiration, no heartbeat, and with no contraction of the pupils when exposed to a strong light

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Ms Shaw said the family were "shell-shocked" when they were told the mother-of-three was "clinically dead" after medical tests.

From BBC • May 28, 2023

But 90 percent of the sea, which consists of heavy salty water streaming in from the Mediterranean, is clinically dead.

From Washington Post • Jul. 29, 2022

He’s just woken up after a cardiac arrest that left him clinically dead for several minutes, with no memory of the other side: “No lights, no tunnels, no angels.”

From New York Times • Feb. 1, 2018

A guy who understands that the parties that have structured French public life since the end of the second world war are clinically dead, and that it is time to offer the French something new.

From The Guardian • Oct. 20, 2017

After a monkey was clinically dead, it was opened up by Captain Steve Denny.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023