dead

[ ded ]

adjective

, dead·er, dead·est.

1. no longer living; deprived of life:

   dead people;

   dead flowers;

   dead animals.

   Antonyms: alive, living

2. brain-dead.
3. not endowed with life; inanimate:

   dead stones.

4. resembling death; deathlike:

   a dead sleep;

   a dead faint.

5. bereft of sensation; numb:

   He was half dead with fright.

   My leg feels dead.

6. lacking sensitivity of feeling; insensitive:

   dead to the needs of others.

   Synonyms: cold, callous, indifferent, unfeeling

7. incapable of being emotionally moved; unresponsive:

   dead to the nuances of the music.

8. (of an emotion) no longer felt; ended; extinguished: dead affections.

   a dead passion;

   dead affections.

9. no longer current or prevalent, as in effect, significance, or practice; obsolete:

   a dead law;

   a dead controversy.

10. no longer functioning, operating, or productive:

    a dead motor;

    a dead battery.

    Synonyms: inoperative, inert

11. not moving or circulating; stagnant; stale:

    dead water;

    dead air.

    Synonyms: motionless, still

12. utterly tired; exhausted:

    They felt dead from the six-hour trip.

13. (of a language) no longer in use as a sole means of oral communication among a people:

    Latin is a dead language.

14. without vitality, spirit, enthusiasm, or the like:

    a dead party.

15. lacking the customary activity; dull; inactive:

    a dead business day.

16. complete; absolute:

    dead silence;

    The plan was a dead loss.

    Synonyms: total, entire, utter

17. sudden or abrupt, as the complete stoppage of an action:

    The bus came to a dead stop.

18. put out; extinguished:

    a dead cigarette.

19. without resilience or bounce:

    a dead tennis ball.

20. infertile; barren:

    dead land.

    Synonyms: sterile

21. exact:

    the dead center of a circle.

22. accurate; sure; unerring:

    a dead shot.

23. direct; straight:

    a dead line.

24. tasteless or flat, as a beverage:

    a dead soft drink.

25. flat rather than glossy, bright, or brilliant:

    The house was painted dead white.

26. without resonance; anechoic:

    dead sound;

    a dead wall surface of a recording studio.

27. not fruitful; unproductive:

    dead capital.

28. Law. deprived of civil rights so that one is in the state of civil death, especially deprived of the rights of property.
29. Sports. out of play:

    a dead ball.

30. (of a golf ball) lying so close to the hole as to make holing on the next stroke a virtual certainty.
31. (of type or copy) having been used or rejected.
32. Electricity.
    1. free from any electric connection to a source of potential difference and from electric charge.
    2. not having a potential different from that of the earth.
33. Metallurgy. (of steel)
    1. fully killed.
    2. unresponsive to heat treatment.
34. (of the mouth of a horse) no longer sensitive to the pressure of a bit.
35. noting any rope in a tackle that does not pass over a pulley or is not rove through a block.

noun

1. the period of greatest darkness, coldness, etc.:

   the dead of night;

   the dead of winter.

2. the dead, dead persons collectively:

   Prayers were recited for the dead.

adverb

1. absolutely; completely:

   dead right;

   dead tired.

2. with sudden and total stoppage of motion, action, or the like:

   He stopped dead.

3. directly; exactly; straight:

   The island lay dead ahead.

dead

/ dɛd /

adjective

1. 1. no longer alive
   2. ( as noun )

      the dead

2. not endowed with life; inanimate
3. no longer in use, valid, effective, or relevant

   a dead issue

   a dead language

4. unresponsive or unaware; insensible

   he is dead to my strongest pleas

5. lacking in freshness, interest, or vitality

   a dead handshake

6. devoid of physical sensation; numb

   his gums were dead from the anaesthetic

7. resembling death; deathlike

   a dead sleep

8. no longer burning or hot

   dead coals

9. (of flowers or foliage) withered; faded
10. prenominal (intensifier)

    a dead stop

    a dead loss

11. informal.
    very tired
12. electronics
    1. drained of electric charge; fully discharged

       the battery was dead

    2. not connected to a source of potential difference or electric charge
13. lacking acoustic reverberation

    a dead sound

    a dead surface

14. sport (of a ball, etc) out of play
15. unerring; accurate; precise (esp in the phrase a dead shot )
16. lacking resilience or bounce

    a dead ball

17. printing
    1. (of type) set but no longer needed for use Compare standing
    2. (of copy) already composed
18. not yielding a return; idle

    dead capital

19. informal.
    certain to suffer a terrible fate; doomed

    you're dead if your mother catches you at that

20. (of colours) not glossy or bright; lacklustre
21. stagnant

    dead air

22. military shielded from view, as by a geographic feature or environmental condition

    dead space

    a dead zone

23. dead as a doornail informal.
    dead as a doornail completely dead
24. dead from the neck up informal.
    dead from the neck up stupid or unintelligent
25. dead in the water informal.
    dead in the water unsuccessful, and with little hope of future success

    the talks are now dead in the water

26. dead to the world informal.
    dead to the world unaware of one's surroundings, esp fast asleep or very drunk
27. leave for dead
    leave for dead
    1. to abandon
    2. to surpass or outdistance by far
28. wouldn't be seen dead in informal.
    wouldn't be seen dead in to refuse to wear or to go to

noun

1. a period during which coldness, darkness, or some other quality associated with death is at its most intense

   the dead of winter

adverb

1. (intensifier)

   dead level

   stop dead

   dead easy

2. dead on
   dead on exactly right

Derived Forms

• ˈdeadness, noun

Other Words From

• dead·ness noun
• half-dead adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of dead¹

First recorded before 950; Middle English deed, Old English dēad; cognate with Gothic dauths, German tot, Old Norse daudhr; originally, past participle; die ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of dead¹

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

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. 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.

2. dead to rights, in the very act of committing a crime, offense, or mistake; red-handed: Also Chiefly British, bang to rights.

   Just when you think you’ve got the killer dead to rights, you find out there’s a whole lot more going on.

More idioms and phrases containing dead

• 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
• death

Synonym Study

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 ).

Example Sentences

Police responded to the scene, and Onyeuka was pronounced dead.

From Washington Post

Your movement might be dead, but there is a place for you to go.

From Washington Post

It was an image of a dead woodcock lying on the street in New York City.

From Popular-Science

In quantum mechanics, this weird “is the cat alive or dead” state is dubbed superposition.

From Singularity Hub 

The 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.

From Washington Post

The cartoonist, better known as Charb, was shot dead Wednesday.

From The Daily Beast

A policewoman was shot dead this morning while law enforcement searched for the Charlie Lebdo killers.

From The Daily Beast

Absent a body, no one can say with absolute certainty whether Castro is dead, even if all signs point in that direction.

From The Daily Beast

The two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is dead.

From The Daily Beast

Yes, Byrd—dead four-and-a-half years now—was a Kleagle in the Ku Klux Klan.

From The Daily Beast

A little boy of four was moved to passionate grief at the sight of a dead dog taken from a pond.

From Project Gutenberg

When he plays a sonata it is as if the composition rose from the dead and stood transfigured before you.

From Project Gutenberg

To-day I'm more dead than alive, as we had a lesson from him yesterday that lasted four hours.

From Project Gutenberg

It is a fearsome thing for a man to be left alone in the dead of night with a young baby.

From Project Gutenberg

If they are Ancients and dead then let them be buried and left to the archæological excavator.

From Project Gutenberg