lifeless
Americanadjective
-
not endowed with life; having no life; inanimate.
lifeless matter.
- Synonyms:
- inorganic
- Antonyms:
- living
-
destitute of living things.
a lifeless planet.
-
deprived of life; dead.
a battlefield strewn with lifeless bodies.
- Synonyms:
- defunct
- Antonyms:
- living
-
without animation, liveliness, or spirit; dull; colorless; torpid.
a lifeless performance of a play.
- Synonyms:
- spiritless, sluggish, passive, inert, inactive
- Antonyms:
- lively
-
insensible, as a person who has fainted.
adjective
-
without life; inanimate; dead
-
not sustaining living organisms
-
having no vitality or animation
-
unconscious
Related Words
See dead.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of lifeless
before 1000; Middle English lifles, Old English līflēas. See life, -less
Explanation
Someone who's lifeless has died. Your lifeless house plant probably got that way because you forgot to water it. You can use the adjective lifeless to describe once-living things, like people, animals, and plants, and you can also use it for objects that appear inert: "The creepy thing about that painting is the clown's lifeless eyes." Things that are duller or droopier than they should be are also lifeless, like your lifeless hair or a writer's lifeless prose. Less common is using lifeless to mean "with no living things," like the lifeless planet Venus.
Vocabulary lists containing lifeless
Boring
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Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher
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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.
Will it end in heat death, expanding into a frozen and lifeless expanse?
From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026
England had vowed that, after lifeless defeats by Scotland and Ireland in the previous two rounds, Rome would be a return to the intensity and intent that marked a successful 2025.
From BBC • Mar. 7, 2026
Lush green reeds in the channel had suddenly turned brown and lifeless, and birds had disappeared.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2026
Early primary coverage feels so distant with its talk of endorsements, “war chests,” and other lifeless stats.
From Slate • Feb. 7, 2026
I can tell immediately if a book is written by a real person or a lifeless program.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
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.
