dead weight

or dead·weight

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR dead weight ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the heavy, unrelieved weight of anything inert: The dead weight of the bear's body was over 300 pounds.

a heavy or oppressive burden or responsibility.

the weight of a railroad car, truck, etc., as distinct from its load or contents.

Nearby words

Origin of dead weight

First recorded in 1650–60

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for deadweight

Access to credit can be a great thing, but it can also become a deadweight around your neck.
Dirty Debt, Done Dirt Cheap|Nick Gillespie|October 9, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Similarly, consider Joel Waldfogel's AER article "The Deadweight Loss of Christmas" (which he later adapted into Scroogenomics).
How Terrible Is Christmas?|Megan McArdle|December 26, 2012|DAILY BEAST
After all, excessive holiday spending results in what economists refer to a “deadweight loss.”
6 Secrets of Perfect Gift Giving|Lee Eisenberg|November 26, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Yet the power (so defined as horse-power) required to raise a deadweight of 20 lbs.
Unexplored Spain|Abel Chapman

It was the sudden release of both the keel and deadweight of the projectile that had caused R19 to shoot up to the surface.
A Sub and a Submarine|Percy F. Westerman
The remainder were freighters, averaging about 5,000 deadweight tons each.
Area Handbook for Romania|Eugene K. Keefe, Donald W. Bernier, Lyle E. Brenneman, William Giloane, James M. Moore, and Neda A. Walpole
Blindly, I felt for the buttons on my dress, and buttoning I sank back in sleep again—the deadweight sleep of utter exhaustion.
Hungry Hearts|Anzia Yezierska

British Dictionary definitions for deadweight

dead weight

noun

a heavy weight or load

an oppressive burden; encumbrance

the difference between the loaded and the unloaded weights of a ship

another name for dead load

(in shipping) freight chargeable by weight rather than by bulk

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

Word Origin and History for deadweight

deadweight

1650s, "weight of an inert body," from dead (adj.) + weight (n.).

Idioms and Phrases with deadweight

dead weight

A heavy or oppressive burden, as in That police record will be a dead weight on his career. This term alludes to the unrelieved weight of an inert mass. [Early 1700s]