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dead

[ ded ]
/ dɛd /
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See synonyms for: dead / deads on Thesaurus.com

adjective, dead·er, dead·est.
noun
the period of greatest darkness, coldness, etc.: the dead of night;the dead of winter.
the dead, dead persons collectively: Prayers were recited for the dead.
adverb
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Idioms about dead

    dead in the water, completely inactive or inoperable; no longer in action or under consideration: Our plans to expand the business have been dead in the water for the past two months.
    dead to rights, in the very act of committing a crime, offense, or mistake; red-handed: Just when you think you’ve got the killer dead to rights, you find out there’s a whole lot more going on.Also Chiefly British, bang to rights .

Origin of dead

First recorded before 950; Middle English deed, Old English dēad; cognate with Gothic dauths, German tot, Old Norse daudhr; originally, past participle; see die1

synonym study for dead

1. Dead, deceased, extinct, lifeless refer to something that does not have or appear to have life. Dead is usually applied to something that had life but from which life is now gone: dead trees. Deceased, a more formal word than dead, is applied to human beings who no longer have life: a deceased member of the church. Extinct is applied to a species, genus, or the like, no member of which is any longer alive: Mastodons are now extinct. Lifeless can be applied to a living thing that no longer appears to be alive ( the lifeless body of an unidentified man ) or to something that may never have been a living thing ( the lifeless materials of these minerals ).

OTHER WORDS FROM dead

dead·ness, nounhalf-dead, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use dead in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for dead

dead
/ (dɛd) /

adjective
noun
a period during which coldness, darkness, or some other quality associated with death is at its most intensethe dead of winter
adverb
(intensifier)dead easy; stop dead; dead level
dead on exactly right

Derived forms of dead

deadness, noun

Word Origin for dead

Old English dēad; related to Old High German tōt, Old Norse dauthr; see die 1
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

Other Idioms and Phrases with dead

dead

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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