dead
no longer living; deprived of life: dead people;dead flowers;dead animals.
brain-dead.
not endowed with life; inanimate: dead stones.
resembling death; deathlike: a dead sleep;a dead faint.
bereft of sensation; numb: He was half dead with fright.My leg feels dead.
lacking sensitivity of feeling; insensitive: dead to the needs of others.
incapable of being emotionally moved; unresponsive: dead to the nuances of the music.
(of an emotion) no longer felt; ended; extinguished: a dead passion;dead affections.
no longer current or prevalent, as in effect, significance, or practice; obsolete: a dead law;a dead controversy.
no longer functioning, operating, or productive: a dead motor;a dead battery.
utterly tired; exhausted: They felt dead from the six-hour trip.
(of a language) no longer in use as a sole means of oral communication among a people: Latin is a dead language.
without vitality, spirit, enthusiasm, or the like: a dead party.
sudden or abrupt, as the complete stoppage of an action: The bus came to a dead stop.
put out; extinguished: a dead cigarette.
without resilience or bounce: a dead tennis ball.
exact: the dead center of a circle.
tasteless or flat, as a beverage: a dead soft drink.
flat rather than glossy, bright, or brilliant: The house was painted dead white.
without resonance; anechoic: dead sound;a dead wall surface of a recording studio.
not fruitful; unproductive: dead capital.
Law. deprived of civil rights so that one is in the state of civil death, especially deprived of the rights of property.
Sports. out of play: a dead ball.
(of a golf ball) lying so close to the hole as to make holing on the next stroke a virtual certainty.
(of type or copy) having been used or rejected.
Electricity.
free from any electric connection to a source of potential difference and from electric charge.
not having a potential different from that of the earth.
Metallurgy. (of steel)
fully killed.
unresponsive to heat treatment.
(of the mouth of a horse) no longer sensitive to the pressure of a bit.
noting any rope in a tackle that does not pass over a pulley or is not rove through a block.
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.
absolutely; completely: dead right;dead tired.
with sudden and total stoppage of motion, action, or the like: He stopped dead.
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
1synonym study For dead
Other words for dead
6 | unfeeling, indifferent, callous, cold |
10 | inert, inoperative |
11 | still, motionless |
16 | utter, entire, total |
20 | sterile |
Opposites for dead
Other words from dead
- dead·ness, noun
- half-dead, adjective
Words Nearby dead
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use dead in a sentence
Police responded to the scene, and Onyeuka was pronounced dead.
Fairfax County police identify victim of fatal shooting in Reston | Justin Jouvenal | February 11, 2021 | Washington PostYour movement might be dead, but there is a place for you to go.
Gene Weingarten: I come bearing good news, QAnon. Meet WAnon, the new Mr. Right. | Gene Weingarten | February 11, 2021 | Washington PostIt was an image of a dead woodcock lying on the street in New York City.
Four wild animals that are thriving in cities | By Ryan Chelius/Outdoor Life | February 9, 2021 | Popular-ScienceIn quantum mechanics, this weird “is the cat alive or dead” state is dubbed superposition.
This ‘Quantum Brain’ Would Mimic Our Own to Speed Up AI | Shelly Fan | February 9, 2021 | Singularity HubThe Gleasons tell people who have observed lethargic or dead birds around their homes to take down their feeders for two weeks, so local birds can disperse and find food in the wild.
Your dirty bird feeder could be spreading disease | Melissa Hart | February 9, 2021 | Washington Post
The cartoonist, better known as Charb, was shot dead Wednesday.
A policewoman was shot dead this morning while law enforcement searched for the Charlie Lebdo killers.
Absent a body, no one can say with absolute certainty whether Castro is dead, even if all signs point in that direction.
An Informant, a Missing American, and Juarez’s House of Death: Inside the 12-Year Cold Case of David Castro | Bill Conroy | January 6, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThe two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is dead.
In the Middle East, the Two-State Solution Is Dead | Dean Obeidallah | January 2, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTYes, Byrd—dead four-and-a-half years now—was a Kleagle in the Ku Klux Klan.
Steve Scalise and the Right’s Ridiculous Racial Blame Game | Michael Tomasky | January 2, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTA little boy of four was moved to passionate grief at the sight of a dead dog taken from a pond.
Children's Ways | James SullyWhen he plays a sonata it is as if the composition rose from the dead and stood transfigured before you.
Music-Study in Germany | Amy FayTo-day I'm more dead than alive, as we had a lesson from him yesterday that lasted four hours.
Music-Study in Germany | Amy FayIt is a fearsome thing for a man to be left alone in the dead of night with a young baby.
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol | William J. LockeIf they are Ancients and dead then let them be buried and left to the archæological excavator.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation | H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
British Dictionary definitions for dead
/ (dɛd) /
no longer alive
(as noun): the dead
not endowed with life; inanimate
no longer in use, valid, effective, or relevant: a dead issue; a dead language
unresponsive or unaware; insensible: he is dead to my strongest pleas
lacking in freshness, interest, or vitality: a dead handshake
devoid of physical sensation; numb: his gums were dead from the anaesthetic
resembling death; deathlike: a dead sleep
no longer burning or hot: dead coals
(of flowers or foliage) withered; faded
(prenominal) (intensifier): a dead stop; a dead loss
informal very tired
electronics
drained of electric charge; fully discharged: the battery was dead
not connected to a source of potential difference or electric charge
lacking acoustic reverberation: a dead sound; a dead surface
sport (of a ball, etc) out of play
unerring; accurate; precise (esp in the phrase a dead shot)
lacking resilience or bounce: a dead ball
printing
(of type) set but no longer needed for use: Compare standing (def. 7)
(of copy) already composed
not yielding a return; idle: dead capital
informal certain to suffer a terrible fate; doomed: you're dead if your mother catches you at that
(of colours) not glossy or bright; lacklustre
stagnant: dead air
military shielded from view, as by a geographic feature or environmental condition: a dead zone; dead space
dead as a doornail informal completely dead
dead from the neck up informal stupid or unintelligent
dead in the water informal unsuccessful, and with little hope of future success: the talks are now dead in the water
dead to the world informal unaware of one's surroundings, esp fast asleep or very drunk
leave for dead
to abandon
informal to surpass or outdistance by far
wouldn't be seen dead in informal to refuse to wear or to go to
a period during which coldness, darkness, or some other quality associated with death is at its most intense: the dead of winter
(intensifier): dead easy; stop dead; dead level
dead on exactly right
Origin of dead
1Derived forms of dead
- deadness, noun
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
In addition to the idioms beginning with dead
- dead ahead
- dead and buried
- dead as a doornail
- dead beat
- dead drunk
- dead duck
- dead end
- dead from the neck up
- dead heat
- dead horse
- dead in one's tracks
- dead in the water
- dead letter
- dead loss
- dead man
- dead of
- dead on one's feet
- dead ringer
- dead set against
- dead soldier
- dead tired
- dead to rights
- dead to the world
- dead weight
also see:
- beat a dead horse
- caught dead
- cut someone dead
- drop dead
- knock dead
- more dead than alive
- over my dead body
- quick and the dead
- stop cold (dead)
- to wake the dead
Also see underdeath.
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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