dead.
No longer living; deceased. (Also used as a noun.)
Meaning & usage
No longer living; deceased. (Also used as a noun.)
All of my grandparents are dead.
Have respect for the dead.
Devoid of living things; barren.
a dead planet
Figuratively, not alive; lacking life.
Utterly exhausted.
So hated or offensive as to be absolutely shunned, ignored, or ostracized.
He is dead to me.
Doomed; marked for death; as good as dead.
"You come back here this instant! Oh, you're dead, mister!"
Without emotion; impassive.
She stood with dead face and limp arms, unresponsive to my plea.
Stationary; static; immobile or immovable.
the dead load on the floor
a dead lift
Without interest to one of the senses; dull; flat.
dead air
a dead glass of soda.
Unproductive; fallow.
dead time
dead fields
Past, bygone, vanished.
Lacking usual activity; unexpectedly quiet or empty of people.
For a Friday night, it's really dead in this restaurant.
Completely inactive; currently without power; without a signal; not live.
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.
Unable to emit power, being discharged (flat) or faulty.
Broken or inoperable.
That monitor is dead; don’t bother hooking it up.
No longer used or required.
There are several dead laws still on the books regulating where horses may be hitched.
Is this beer glass dead?
Intentionally designed so as not to impart motion or power.
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.
Not in play.
Once the ball crosses the foul line, it's dead.
Lying so near the hole that the player is certain to hole it in the next stroke.
Tagged out.
Full and complete (usually applied to nouns involving lack of motion, sound, activity, or other signs of life).
dead stop
dead sleep
Exact; on the dot.
dead center
dead aim
Experiencing pins and needles (paresthesia).
After sitting on my hands for a while, my arms became dead.
Expresses an emotional reaction associated with hyperbolic senses of die: Dying of laughter.
Expresses an emotional reaction associated with hyperbolic senses of die: Expresses shock, second-hand embarrassment, etc.
Constructed so as not to reflect or transmit sound; soundless; anechoic.
a dead floor
Bringing death; deadly.
Cut off from the rights of a citizen; deprived of the power of enjoying the rights of property.
A person who is banished or who becomes a monk is civilly dead.
Indifferent to; having no obligation toward; no longer subject to or ruled by (sin, guilt, pleasure, etc).
Of a syllable in languages such as Thai and Burmese: ending abruptly.
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.
Exactly.
dead right; dead level; dead flat; dead straight; dead left
He hit the target dead in the centre.
Very, absolutely, extremely.
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
Suddenly and completely.
He stopped dead.
She cut me dead again at the last party.
As if dead.
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.
Time when coldness, darkness, or stillness is most intense.
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.
Those who have died: dead people.
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.
(usually in the plural) Sterile mining waste, often present as many large rocks stacked inside the workings.
Clipping of deadlift.
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.
To prevent by disabling; to stop.
To make dead; to deaden; to deprive of life, force, or vigour.
To kill.
To discontinue or put an end to (something).
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.
Try it on your idea.
dead has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
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.