| English Dictionary |
DEAD
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does dead mean?
• DEAD (noun)
The noun DEAD has 2 senses:
1. people who are no longer living
2. a time when coldness (or some other quality associated with death) is intense
Familiarity information: DEAD used as a noun is rare.
• DEAD (adjective)
The adjective DEAD has 17 senses:
1. no longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life
2. not showing characteristics of life especially the capacity to sustain life; no longer exerting force or having energy or heat
3. very tired
4. unerringly accurate
5. physically inactive
6. (followed by 'to') not showing human feeling or sensitivity; unresponsive
7. devoid of physical sensation; numb
8. lacking acoustic resonance
9. not yielding a return
10. not circulating or flowing
11. not surviving in active use
12. lacking resilience or bounce
13. out of use or operation because of a fault or breakdown
14. no longer having force or relevance
15. the complete stoppage of an action
16. drained of electric charge; discharged
17. devoid of activity
Familiarity information: DEAD used as an adjective is very familiar.
• DEAD (adverb)
The adverb DEAD has 2 senses:
1. quickly and without warning
2. completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers
Familiarity information: DEAD used as an adverb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
People who are no longer living
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Context example:
they buried the dead
Hypernyms ("dead" is a kind of...):
people ((plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively)
Meronyms (members of "dead"):
dead person; dead soul; deceased; deceased person; decedent; departed (someone who is no longer alive)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dead"):
slain (people who have been slain (as in battle))
Antonym:
living (people who are still living)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A time when coldness (or some other quality associated with death) is intense
Classified under:
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations
Context example:
the dead of winter
Hypernyms ("dead" is a kind of...):
time (an indefinite period (usually marked by specific attributes or activities))
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: deadest
Sense 1
Meaning:
No longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life
Context example:
he was marked as a dead man by the assassin
Similar:
murdered (killed unlawfully)
stone-dead (as lifeless as a stone)
stillborn ((of newborn infant) showing no signs of life at birth; not liveborn)
slain (killed; 'slain' is formal or literary as in)
nonviable (not capable of living or developing successfully)
exanimate; lifeless (deprived of life; no longer living)
late (having died recently)
fallen (killed in battle)
executed (put to death as punishment)
doomed (marked for certain death)
deathlike; deathly (having the physical appearance of death)
d.o.a. (abbreviation for 'dead on arrival' at the emergency room)
cold (lacking the warmth of life)
breathless; inanimate; pulseless (appearing dead; not breathing or having no perceptible pulse)
brain dead (having irreversible loss of brain function as indicated by a persistent flat electroencephalogram)
bloodless; exsanguine; exsanguinous (destitute of blood or apparently so)
assassinated (murdered by surprise attack for political reasons)
asleep; at peace; at rest; deceased; departed; gone (dead)
defunct (having ceased to exist or live)
Attribute:
aliveness; animation; life; living (the condition of living or the state of being alive)
animation; vitality (the property of being able to survive and grow)
Antonym:
alive (possessing life)
Derivation:
deadness (the inanimate property of something that has died)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not showing characteristics of life especially the capacity to sustain life; no longer exerting force or having energy or heat
Context example:
the fire is dead
Similar:
out of play ((of a ball) not available to be played during a game)
lifeless (not having the capacity to support life)
extinct; out (being out or having grown cold)
Also:
extinct ((of e.g. volcanos) permanently inactive)
Antonym:
live (exerting force or containing energy)
Derivation:
deadness (the inanimate property of something that has died)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Very tired
Synonyms:
Context example:
I'm dead after that long trip
Similar:
tired (depleted of strength or energy)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Unerringly accurate
Context example:
took dead aim
Similar:
precise (sharply exact or accurate or delimited)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Physically inactive
Context example:
Crater Lake is in the crater of a dead volcano of the Cascade Range
Similar:
extinct ((of e.g. volcanos) permanently inactive)
Derivation:
deadness (the inanimate property of something that has died)
Sense 6
Meaning:
(followed by 'to') not showing human feeling or sensitivity; unresponsive
Synonyms:
dead; numb
Context example:
numb to the cries for mercy
Similar:
insensitive (deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive)
Derivation:
deadness (the quality of being unresponsive; not reacting; as a quality of people, it is marked by a failure to respond quickly or with emotion to people or events)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Devoid of physical sensation; numb
Synonyms:
dead; deadened
Context example:
a public desensitized by continuous television coverage of atrocities
Similar:
insensitive (not responsive to physical stimuli)
Derivation:
deadness (the quality of being unresponsive; not reacting; as a quality of people, it is marked by a failure to respond quickly or with emotion to people or events)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Lacking acoustic resonance
Context example:
the dead wall surfaces of a recording studio
Similar:
nonresonant; unreverberant (not reverberant; lacking a tendency to reverberate)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Not yielding a return
Synonyms:
dead; idle
Context example:
idle funds
Similar:
unprofitable (producing little or no profit or gain)
Sense 10
Meaning:
Not circulating or flowing
Synonyms:
dead; stagnant
Context example:
stagnant water
Similar:
standing ((of fluids) not moving or flowing)
Derivation:
deadness (the inanimate property of something that has died)
Sense 11
Meaning:
Not surviving in active use
Context example:
Latin is a dead language
Similar:
extinct; nonextant (no longer in existence; lost or especially having died out leaving no living representatives)
Derivation:
deadness (the inanimate property of something that has died)
Sense 12
Meaning:
Lacking resilience or bounce
Context example:
a dead tennis ball
Similar:
inelastic (not elastic)
Derivation:
deadness (the physical property of something that has lost its elasticity)
Sense 13
Meaning:
Out of use or operation because of a fault or breakdown
Context example:
the motor is dead
Similar:
inoperative (not working or taking effect)
Derivation:
deadness (the inanimate property of something that has died)
Sense 14
Meaning:
No longer having force or relevance
Context example:
a dead issue
Similar:
noncurrent (not current or belonging to the present time)
Sense 15
Meaning:
The complete stoppage of an action
Context example:
came to a dead stop
Similar:
complete (having every necessary or normal part or component or step)
Sense 16
Meaning:
Drained of electric charge; discharged
Synonyms:
dead; drained
Context example:
left the lights on and came back to find the battery drained
Similar:
uncharged (of a particle or body or system; having no charge)
Derivation:
deadness (the inanimate property of something that has died)
Sense 17
Meaning:
Devoid of activity
Context example:
this is a dead town; nothing ever happens here
Similar:
inactive (lacking activity; lying idle or unused)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Quickly and without warning
Synonyms:
abruptly; dead; short; suddenly
Context example:
he stopped suddenly
Sense 2
Meaning:
Completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers
Synonyms:
absolutely; dead; perfectly; utterly
Context example:
dead right
Context examples
I guess she is dead, now.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Hundreds fell down as if they had been struck dead; and even the emperor, although he stood his ground, could not recover himself for some time.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
But if not, there is no object in raking up this scandal against a dead man, foully as he has acted.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
When they saw the Witch of the East was dead the Munchkins sent a swift messenger to me, and I came at once.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
When he drew it away and counted, there lay before him no fewer than seven, dead and with legs stretched out.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
They are like dead people they are so tired, but they say, 'Let us go on.' We go on.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and once he made quite a little detour into the meadow.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“And still no more dead men,” I twitted Louis, when Smoke and Henderson, side by side, in friendly conversation, took their first exercise on deck.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Stepping out into the dark, I nearly fell over a dead man, who was lying there.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“Yes, yes, here he is, sure enough! Cadogan West was the young man who was found dead on the Underground on Tuesday morning.”
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"Keep your eyes on the sun and you will not see the shadows." (Aboriginal Australian proverbs)
"If your house is of glass, don't throw rocks at others." (Arabic proverb)
"Half an egg is better than an empty shell." (Dutch proverb)