dead

[ ded ]
See synonyms for dead on Thesaurus.com
adjective,dead·er, dead·est.
  1. no longer living; deprived of life: dead people;dead flowers;dead animals.

  2. brain-dead.

  1. not endowed with life; inanimate: dead stones.

  2. resembling death; deathlike: a dead sleep;a dead faint.

  3. bereft of sensation; numb: He was half dead with fright.My leg feels dead.

  4. lacking sensitivity of feeling; insensitive: dead to the needs of others.

  5. incapable of being emotionally moved; unresponsive: dead to the nuances of the music.

  6. (of an emotion) no longer felt; ended; extinguished: a dead passion;dead affections.

  7. no longer current or prevalent, as in effect, significance, or practice; obsolete: a dead law;a dead controversy.

  8. no longer functioning, operating, or productive: a dead motor;a dead battery.

  9. not moving or circulating; stagnant; stale: dead water;dead air.

  10. utterly tired; exhausted: They felt dead from the six-hour trip.

  11. (of a language) no longer in use as a sole means of oral communication among a people: Latin is a dead language.

  12. without vitality, spirit, enthusiasm, or the like: a dead party.

  13. lacking the customary activity; dull; inactive: a dead business day.

  14. complete; absolute: dead silence;The plan was a dead loss.

  15. sudden or abrupt, as the complete stoppage of an action: The bus came to a dead stop.

  16. put out; extinguished: a dead cigarette.

  17. without resilience or bounce: a dead tennis ball.

  18. infertile; barren: dead land.

  19. exact: the dead center of a circle.

  20. accurate; sure; unerring: a dead shot.

  21. direct; straight: a dead line.

  22. tasteless or flat, as a beverage: a dead soft drink.

  23. flat rather than glossy, bright, or brilliant: The house was painted dead white.

  24. without resonance; anechoic: dead sound;a dead wall surface of a recording studio.

  25. not fruitful; unproductive: dead capital.

  26. Law. deprived of civil rights so that one is in the state of civil death, especially deprived of the rights of property.

  27. Sports. out of play: a dead ball.

  28. (of a golf ball) lying so close to the hole as to make holing on the next stroke a virtual certainty.

  29. (of type or copy) having been used or rejected.

  30. Electricity.

    • free from any electric connection to a source of potential difference and from electric charge.

    • not having a potential different from that of the earth.

  31. Metallurgy. (of steel)

    • fully killed.

    • unresponsive to heat treatment.

  32. (of the mouth of a horse) no longer sensitive to the pressure of a bit.

  33. 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.

  1. directly; exactly; straight: The island lay dead ahead.

Idioms about dead

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

Origin of dead

1
First recorded before 950; Middle English deed, Old English dēad; cognate with Gothic dauths, German tot, Old Norse daudhr; originally, past participle; see die1

synonym study For dead

1. 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 ).

Other words for dead

Opposites for dead

Other words from dead

  • dead·ness, noun
  • half-dead, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use dead in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for dead

dead

/ (dɛd) /


adjective
    • no longer alive

    • (as noun): the dead

  1. not endowed with life; inanimate

  1. no longer in use, valid, effective, or relevant: a dead issue; a dead language

  2. unresponsive or unaware; insensible: he is dead to my strongest pleas

  3. lacking in freshness, interest, or vitality: a dead handshake

  4. devoid of physical sensation; numb: his gums were dead from the anaesthetic

  5. resembling death; deathlike: a dead sleep

  6. no longer burning or hot: dead coals

  7. (of flowers or foliage) withered; faded

  8. (prenominal) (intensifier): a dead stop; a dead loss

  9. informal very tired

  10. electronics

    • drained of electric charge; fully discharged: the battery was dead

    • not connected to a source of potential difference or electric charge

  11. lacking acoustic reverberation: a dead sound; a dead surface

  12. sport (of a ball, etc) out of play

  13. unerring; accurate; precise (esp in the phrase a dead shot)

  14. lacking resilience or bounce: a dead ball

  15. printing

    • (of type) set but no longer needed for use: Compare standing (def. 7)

    • (of copy) already composed

  16. not yielding a return; idle: dead capital

  17. informal certain to suffer a terrible fate; doomed: you're dead if your mother catches you at that

  18. (of colours) not glossy or bright; lacklustre

  19. stagnant: dead air

  20. military shielded from view, as by a geographic feature or environmental condition: a dead zone; dead space

  21. dead as a doornail informal completely dead

  22. dead from the neck up informal stupid or unintelligent

  23. dead in the water informal unsuccessful, and with little hope of future success: the talks are now dead in the water

  24. dead to the world informal unaware of one's surroundings, esp fast asleep or very drunk

  25. leave for dead

    • to abandon

    • informal to surpass or outdistance by far

  26. wouldn't be seen dead in informal 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 easy; stop dead; dead level

  2. dead on exactly right

Origin of dead

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

Derived forms of dead

  • deadness, noun

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with dead

dead

In addition to the idioms beginning with dead

  • dead ahead
  • dead and buried
  • dead as a doornail
  • dead beat
  • dead drunk
  • dead duck
  • dead end
  • dead from the neck up
  • dead heat
  • dead horse
  • dead in one's tracks
  • dead in the water
  • dead letter
  • dead loss
  • dead man
  • dead of
  • dead on one's feet
  • dead ringer
  • dead set against
  • dead soldier
  • dead tired
  • dead to rights
  • dead to the world
  • dead weight

also see:

  • 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

Also see underdeath.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.