deathlike
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of deathlike
1540–50; death + -like; compare Old English dēathlīc deathly
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.
But the biggest draw might be the deathlike stench when they open—and people are willing to wait hours to catch a whiff.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
If you know anything about Burton’s movies, you know that they tend to feature characters who embody all the qualities of a sickly Victorian-era child: waifish, sunken doe-eye and gaunt faces with a deathlike pallor.
From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2024
In the US, one writer observed: “The very face of nature seemed to be shrouded in a deathlike gloom.”
From The Guardian ● Mar. 6, 2021
“There’s something earthy and deathlike about the cello, isn’t there?”
From New York Times ● Jun. 1, 2018
And when Denethor descended again he went to Faramir and sat beside him without speaking, but the face of the Lord was grey, more deathlike than his son’s.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
