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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

dead.

No longer living; deceased. (Also used as a noun.)

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/dɛd//diːd/Northumbria, West-Country
  1. No longer living; deceased. (Also used as a noun.)

    not-comparable · usually
    All of my grandparents are dead.
    Have respect for the dead.
  2. Devoid of living things; barren.

    not-comparable · usually
    a dead planet
  3. Figuratively, not alive; lacking life.

    excessive · not-comparable · usually
  4. Utterly exhausted.

    not-comparable · usually
  5. So hated or offensive as to be absolutely shunned, ignored, or ostracized.

    not-comparable · usually
    He is dead to me.
  6. Doomed; marked for death; as good as dead.

    not-comparable · usually
    "You come back here this instant! Oh, you're dead, mister!"
  7. Without emotion; impassive.

    not-comparable · usually
    She stood with dead face and limp arms, unresponsive to my plea.
  8. Stationary; static; immobile or immovable.

    not-comparable · usually
    the dead load on the floor
    a dead lift
  9. Without interest to one of the senses; dull; flat.

    not-comparable · usually
    dead air
    a dead glass of soda.
  10. Unproductive; fallow.

    not-comparable · usually
    dead time
    dead fields
  11. Past, bygone, vanished.

    not-comparable · usually
  12. Lacking usual activity; unexpectedly quiet or empty of people.

    not-comparable · usually
    For a Friday night, it's really dead in this restaurant.
  13. Completely inactive; currently without power; without a signal; not live.

    not-comparable · usually
    OK, the circuit's dead. Go ahead and cut the wire.
    Now that the motor's dead you can reach in and extract the spark plugs.
  14. Unable to emit power, being discharged (flat) or faulty.

    not-comparable · usually
  15. Broken or inoperable.

    not-comparable · usually
    That monitor is dead; don’t bother hooking it up.
  16. No longer used or required.

    not-comparable · usually
    There are several dead laws still on the books regulating where horses may be hitched.
    Is this beer glass dead?
  17. Intentionally designed so as not to impart motion or power.

    not-comparable · usually
    the dead spindle of a lathe
    A dead axle, also called a lazy axle, is not part of the drivetrain, but is instead free-rotating.
  18. Not in play.

    not-comparable · usually
    Once the ball crosses the foul line, it's dead.
  19. Lying so near the hole that the player is certain to hole it in the next stroke.

    not-comparable · usually
  20. Tagged out.

    not-comparable · slang · usually
  21. Full and complete (usually applied to nouns involving lack of motion, sound, activity, or other signs of life).

    not-comparable · usually
    dead stop
    dead sleep
  22. Exact; on the dot.

    not-comparable · usually
    dead center
    dead aim
  23. Experiencing pins and needles (paresthesia).

    not-comparable · usually
    After sitting on my hands for a while, my arms became dead.
  24. Expresses an emotional reaction associated with hyperbolic senses of die: Dying of laughter.

    Internet · excessive · not-comparable · often · sometimes · usually
  25. Expresses an emotional reaction associated with hyperbolic senses of die: Expresses shock, second-hand embarrassment, etc.

    Internet · not-comparable · often · sometimes · usually
  26. Constructed so as not to reflect or transmit sound; soundless; anechoic.

    not-comparable · usually
    a dead floor
  27. Bringing death; deadly.

    not-comparable · obsolete · usually
  28. Cut off from the rights of a citizen; deprived of the power of enjoying the rights of property.

    not-comparable · usually
    A person who is banished or who becomes a monk is civilly dead.
  29. Indifferent to; having no obligation toward; no longer subject to or ruled by (sin, guilt, pleasure, etc).

    especially · not-comparable · often · rare · usually
  30. Of a syllable in languages such as Thai and Burmese: ending abruptly.

    not-comparable · usually
Where this word comes from

From Middle English ded, deed, from Old English dēad, from Proto-West Germanic *daud, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz. Compare West Frisian dead, dea, Dutch dood, German tot, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål død, Norwegian Nynorsk daud, Swedish död.

adv/dɛd//diːd/Northumbria, West-Country
  1. Exactly.

    colloquial · informal · not-comparable
    dead right; dead level; dead flat; dead straight; dead left
    He hit the target dead in the centre.
  2. Very, absolutely, extremely.

    colloquial · informal · not-comparable
    dead wrong; dead set; dead serious; dead drunk; dead broke; dead earnest; dead certain; dead slow; dead sure; dead simple; dead honest; dead accurate; dead easy
  3. Suddenly and completely.

    not-comparable
    He stopped dead.
    She cut me dead again at the last party.
  4. As if dead.

    informal · not-comparable
    dead tired; dead quiet; dead asleep; dead pale; dead cold; dead still
Where this word comes from

From Middle English ded, deed, from Old English dēad, from Proto-West Germanic *daud, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz. Compare West Frisian dead, dea, Dutch dood, German tot, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål død, Norwegian Nynorsk daud, Swedish död.

noun/dɛd//diːd/Northumbria, West-Country
  1. Time when coldness, darkness, or stillness is most intense.

    often · uncountable · with-definite-article
    the dead of night
    the dead of winter
Where this word comes from

From Middle English ded, deed, from Old English dēad, from Proto-West Germanic *daud, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz. Compare West Frisian dead, dea, Dutch dood, German tot, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål død, Norwegian Nynorsk daud, Swedish död.

noun/dɛd//diːd/Northumbria, West-Country
  1. Those who have died: dead people.

    plural · plural-only · with-definite-article
    the quick and the dead
    Will the dead rise again?
Where this word comes from

From Middle English ded, deed, from Old English dēad, from Proto-West Germanic *daud, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz. Compare West Frisian dead, dea, Dutch dood, German tot, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål død, Norwegian Nynorsk daud, Swedish död.

noun/dɛd//diːd/Northumbria, West-Country
  1. (usually in the plural) Sterile mining waste, often present as many large rocks stacked inside the workings.

    UK
  2. Clipping of deadlift.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · colloquial
Where this word comes from

From Middle English ded, deed, from Old English dēad, from Proto-West Germanic *daud, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz. Compare West Frisian dead, dea, Dutch dood, German tot, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål død, Norwegian Nynorsk daud, Swedish död.

verb/dɛd//diːd/Northumbria, West-Country
  1. To prevent by disabling; to stop.

    transitive
  2. To make dead; to deaden; to deprive of life, force, or vigour.

    transitive
  3. To kill.

    UK · US · slang · transitive
  4. To discontinue or put an end to (something).

    broadly · slang · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English ded, deed, from Old English dēad, from Proto-West Germanic *daud, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz. Compare West Frisian dead, dea, Dutch dood, German tot, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål død, Norwegian Nynorsk daud, Swedish död.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.