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dead Definition

dead (ded)

adjective

  1. no longer living; having died
  2. naturally without life; inanimate dead stones
  3. such as to suggest death; deathlike a dead faint
  4. lacking positive qualities, as of warmth, vitality, interest, brightness, brilliance, etc. a dead handshake, a dead party, a dead white
  5. wholly indifferent; insensible dead to love
  6. without feeling, motion, or power his arm hung dead at his side
    1. not burning; extinguished dead coals
    2. extinct a dead volcano
  8. characterized by little or no movement or activity; slack, stagnant, etc. dead water
  9. designating an axle that supports but does not drive a wheel
  10. having lost resilience or elasticity a dead tennis ball
  11. no longer used or significant; obsolete dead languages, dead laws
    1. not fertile; barren dead soil
    2. not yielding a return; unproductive dead capital
  13. certain as death; unerring; sure a dead shot
  14. exact; precise dead center
  15. complete; total; absolute a dead stop
  16. unvarying; undeviating dead level
  17. Informal very tired; exhausted
  18. Elec.
    1. having no current passing through a dead wire
    2. having lost its charge a dead battery
  19. Printing set, but no longer needed for use dead type
  20. Sports
    1. no longer in play a dead ball
    2. barred by a game's rules from making a particular play

Etymology: ME ded < OE dēad, akin to ON dauthr, OHG tōt, Goth dauths: orig. pp. of an old v. base appearing in ON deyja, OS dojan, OHG touwen, all < IE base *dheu-, die

noun

the time of greatest darkness, most intense cold, etc. the dead of night, the dead of winter

adverb

  1. completely; absolutely dead right
  2. directly dead ahead

dead Related Forms

dead′·ness noun

dead Idioms

dead in the water

Informal
  1. at a standstill from the loss of power, momentum, vigor, etc.
  2. destined for certain failure or ruin; doomed

dead to rights

☆

Informal in an undeniably incriminating situation; red-handed

dead to the world

Informal sound asleep

the dead

those who have died

dead Synonyms

dead

modif.

  1. Without life

    deceased, departed, perished, expired, lifeless, inanimate, brain dead, late, former, defunct, cadaverous, mortified, no longer living, not endowed with life, devoid of life, deprived of life, gone, clinically dead, extinct, in the grave, breathless, still, no more, gone the way of all flesh, gone to one's reward, gone to meet one's Maker, out of one's misery, gone to one's last rest, gone to a better place, gathered to one's fathers, with the saints, beneath the sod, numbered with the dead, bereft of life, at rest, asleep in the Lord, resting in peace, fallen, gone to glory, cut off*, bought the farm*, dead as a doornail*, done for*, gone west*, liquidated*, wasted*, snuffed out*, erased*, gone home in a box*, pushing up daisies*, put to bed with a shovel*, grounded for good*, washed up*, clay-cold*, stone-cold*; see also extinct.

    Antonyms alive*, animate*, enduring. *

  2. Without the appearance of life

    inert, still, stagnant, lifeless; see dead 2, 4, 6.

  3. Numb

    insensible, deadened, anesthetized; see numb 1, paralyzed, unconscious 1.

  4. Extinct

    ended, extinguished, terminated, obsolete; see extinct.

  5. *Exhausted

    wearied, worn, spent; see tired.

  6. *Complete

    final, total, unconditional; see absolute 1.

dead is the general word for someone or something that was alive but is no longer so; deceased and departed are both euphemistic, esp. for one who has recently died, but the former is largely a legal, and the latter a religious, usage; late precedes the name, relationship, or title of one who has died, especially recently the late Mr. Green or of one who preceded the incumbent in some office or function his late employer; defunct, applied to a person, is now somewhat rhetorical or jocular, but it is also commonly used of something that because of failure no longer exists or functions a defunct government; extinct is applied to a species, race, etc. that has no living member; inanimate refers to that which has never had life inanimate rocks; lifeless refers to that which has died or appears dead or to things that exhibit no life or spirit her lifeless body, a lifeless painting

dead Synonyms

dead

n. [Usually used with the]

the departed, the deceased, decedent, one's fathers; see ancestor, body 2.

dead Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • bury: On the slopes of Isandhlwana itself, men under Colonel Drury-Lowe are searching the battlefield in order to bury the English dead.
  • commemorate: It commemorates the dead of both World War I & II.

Preposition: on

arrival: It seems Robin was asthmatic, and stopped breathing at the scene of the arrest; he was dead on arrival at JR.

Preposition: as

doornail: Some stray keyboard call and boom, dead as a doornail.

Adjective modifier

  • presumed: Victims presumed dead were taken to nearby houses and laid out.
  • righteous: Verse 16 deals with the righteous dead in general; verses 13 and 14 with the particular individuals whose death they were mourning.

Modifies a noun

  • wood: The common people found their rights to hunt game or collect dead wood on common land, became criminal offenses.
  • ringer: But he's a dead ringer for his brother.
  • cert: Labor are a cast-iron, dead cert, shoo-in.
  • body: Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise.
  • reckoning: They postulate that for rodents, dead reckoning is a requirement for landmark learning.
  • swan: Members of the public are asked to report to the Defra helpline ( 08459 335577 ) any multiple wild bird deaths or dead swans.

Used with adjective complement

  • shoot: The boy was shot dead by a security officer who had no charges brought against him.
  • pronounce: He was taken to St Thomas ' Hospital where was pronounced dead at 15 minutes past midnight.
  • lie: Collective security lies dead among the mountains of Ethiopia.
  • drop: He recalls that once a horse dropped dead in the traces.
  • wash: The last English record on the BMLSS records occurred of a specimen washed up dead on the north Devon coast in 2000.

Preposition: in

  • trespass: They are those who once were dead in trespasses and sins ( Eph. ii.
  • transgression: The Bible says we are " dead in transgressions and sins " .
  • sin: Yet it is obvious that believers were still conscious and alive when they were dead in sin.