Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for drop-dead

drop-dead

[ drop-ded ]

adjective

  1. inspiring awe, astonishment, or envy:

    a drop-dead guest list; a drop-dead sable coat.

  2. being the most extreme limit or possibility:

    What's the drop-dead date for handing in term papers? That is our drop-dead offer.



drop-dead

adverb

  1. informal.
    outstandingly or exceptionally

    drop-dead gorgeous

“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


Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of drop-dead1

First recorded in 1965–70
Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

An expression of anger, rejection, or indignation toward someone. For example, I should do all that work for you? Drop dead! This rude imperative is usually hyperbolic, that is, the speaker is not literally asking someone to die on the spot. [c. 1930] Curiously, the adjective (and adverb) drop-dead is not at all insulting. Rather, it means “dazzling” or “awe-inspiring,” as in She wore a drop-dead outfit that all the other women admired . This usage originated in slangy journalism in the 1960s.
Discover More

Example Sentences

And if so, can it cause you to literally drop dead from that ominous condition called “sudden death”?

Karly Hopper is a drop-dead gorgeous woman with an IQ of 65 and a childlike sense of the world.

And Netanyahu has told him to drop dead, which politically, he may soon do.

And Netanyahu has told him to drop dead, which politically, he may soon do.You got Obama wrong.

But Stacey Dash is drop dead gorgeous, so people take a special interest when she voices an opinion.

Suppose I drop dead, Susan, will you like to be a bewitching young widow so soon?

Then, when he started home again, to take his punishment, the first thing he did was to drop dead.

The idolized only daughter of the Carr family hoped that she would drop dead from mortification, but nothing happened.

It's a very common superstition among English country folk that shrews always drop dead if they attempt to cross a road.

And she had a curious feeling that she should drop dead if her mother should clutch her.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement