Zombie definition

zŏmbē
zombies
See word origin
Frequency:
In West Indian voodoo, a corpse brought to a state of trancelike animation and made to obey the commands of the person exercising the power.
noun
5
1
Zombie is defined as a dead person who is animated but in a trance and has no free will, or a person behaving in that manner.

An example of a zombie is a character in a fictional movie who chases after people with arms outstretched.

noun
5
2
(slang) A weird, eccentric, or unattractive person.
noun
4
1
A computer connected to the internet and controlled by a remote unauthorized user to perform malicious tasks, without the owner being aware.
noun
3
1
A tall mixed drink made of various rums, liqueur, and fruit juice.
noun
1
1
Advertisement
In voodoo belief and popular folklore, a corpse that has been reanimated, especially by means of a supernatural power or spell.
noun
1
1
One who looks or behaves like an automaton.
noun
1
1
An iced drink made with fruit juices, various kinds of rum, and, often, apricot brandy.
noun
1
1
A snake god or fetish in religions of West Africa and elsewhere.
noun
1
1
(voodoo, superstition) A person, usually undead, animated by unnatural forces (such as magic), with no soul or will of his/her own.
noun
1
1
Advertisement
(philosophy) A hypothetical person who lacks self awareness.
noun
0
0
Any animated corpse, as in horror films and stories.
noun
1
2
A bank or business that cannot meet its financial obligations or make new loans but has been allowed to continue operating by the government.
noun
0
1
A snake god of voodoo cults in West Africa, Haiti, and the southern United States.
noun
0
1
(informal) A person considered to be like a zombie in listlessness, mechanical behavior, etc.
noun
0
1
Advertisement
(fiction) A deceased person who becomes reanimate to attack the living.

I shot a zombie. He was a zombie, Kenneth. The pilot was bitten before he picked us up!

noun
0
1
(figuratively) An apathetic person.
noun
0
1
(figuratively) A human being in a state of extreme mental exhaustion.

After working for 18 hours on the computer, I was a zombie.

noun
0
1
noun
0
1
(computing) A process or task which has terminated but was not removed from the list of processes, typically because it has child processes that have not yet terminated.
noun
0
1
Advertisement
(computing) A computer affected by malware which causes it to do whatever the attacker wants it to do without the user's knowledge.
noun
0
1
noun
0
1
(Canada, historical, derogatory) A conscripted member of the Canadian military during World War II who was assigned to home defence rather than to combat in Europe.
noun
0
1

Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
zombie
Plural:
zombies

Origin of zombie

  • Louisiana French Creole Haitian Creole zonbi of Bantu origin Kimbundu nzúmbi ghost, soul, spirit

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From a Bantu language. Compare Kikongo zumbi (“fetish"), Kimbundu nzambi (god), and Caribbean folklore's jumbee (a spirit or demon). May also be related to sombra.

    From Wiktionary

Zombie Sentence Examples

  • I felt like a zombie, being led around aimlessly.

  • No. Not unless you want to talk to yourself while I prop up a zombie who won't hear a word you're saying.

  • She'd been a zombie and took the bus to the store this morning.

  • Zombie Revenge... discuss my current favorite Sega Dreamcast game, Zombie Revenge.

  • She had trouble retaining her optimism after the zombie attack began. 

More sentences

Related articles

Also Mentioned In

Words near zombie in the Dictionary