DEADNESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does deadness mean? 

• DEADNESS (noun)
  The noun DEADNESS has 3 senses:

1. 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

2. the physical property of something that has lost its elasticity

3. the inanimate property of something that has died

  Familiarity information: DEADNESS used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEADNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

deadness; unresponsiveness

Context example:

in an instant all the deadness and withdrawal were wiped away

Hypernyms ("deadness" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "deadness"):

frigidity; frigidness (sexual unresponsiveness (especially of women) and inability to achieve orgasm during intercourse)

resistance (the degree of unresponsiveness of a disease-causing microorganism to antibiotics or other drugs (as in penicillin-resistant bacteria))

Derivation:

dead (devoid of physical sensation; numb)

dead ((followed by 'to') not showing human feeling or sensitivity; unresponsive)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The physical property of something that has lost its elasticity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

he objected to the deadness of the tennis balls

Hypernyms ("deadness" is a kind of...):

inelasticity (the lack of elasticity)

Derivation:

dead (lacking resilience or bounce)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The inanimate property of something that has died

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("deadness" is a kind of...):

inanimateness; lifelessness (not having life)

Derivation:

dead (physically inactive)

dead (no longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life)

dead (not showing characteristics of life especially the capacity to sustain life; no longer exerting force or having energy or heat)

dead (drained of electric charge; discharged)

dead (out of use or operation because of a fault or breakdown)

dead (not surviving in active use)

dead (not circulating or flowing)