Skip to definition.
Get the FREE one-click dictionary software for Windows or the iPhone/iPad and Android apps


Adjective: dead (deader,deadest)  ded
  1. Not alive; no seeming to have or expecting to have life
    "the nerve is dead"; "a dead pallor"; "he was marked as a dead man by the assassin"
     
  2. Not showing characteristics of life especially the capacity to sustain life; no longer exerting force or having energy or heat
    "Mars is a dead planet"; "dead soil"; "dead coals"; "the fire is dead"
     
  3. [informal] Very tired
    "I'm dead after that long trip";
    - all in, beat [informal], bushed
     
  4. Unerringly accurate
    "a dead shot"; "took dead aim"
     
  5. Physically inactive
    "Crater Lake is in the crater of a dead volcano of the Cascade Range"
     
  6. (followed by 'to') not showing human feeling or sensitivity; unresponsive
    "passersby were dead to our plea for help";
    - numb
     
  7. Devoid of physical sensation; numb
    "his gums were dead from the novocain";
    - deadened
     
  8. Lacking acoustic resonance
    "dead sounds characteristic of some compact discs"; "the dead wall surfaces of a recording studio"
     
  9. Not yielding a return
    "dead capital";
    - idle
     
  10. Not circulating or flowing
    "dead air"; "dead water";
    - stagnant
     
  11. Not surviving in active use
    "Latin is a dead language"
     
  12. Lacking resilience or bounce
    "a dead tennis ball"
     
  13. Out of use or operation because of a fault or breakdown
    "a dead telephone line"; "the motor is dead"
     
  14. No longer having force or relevance
    "a dead issue"
     
  15. The complete stoppage of an action
    "came to a dead stop"
     
  16. Drained of electric charge; discharged
    "a dead battery";
    - drained, flat [Brit]
     
  17. Devoid of activity
    "this is a dead town; nothing ever happens here"
Noun: dead  ded
  1. People who are no longer living
    "they buried the dead"
     
  2. A time when coldness (or some other quality associated with death) is intense
    "the dead of winter"
Adverb: dead  ded
  1. Completely and without qualification; used informally as an intensifier
    "you can be dead sure of my innocence"; "was dead tired"; "dead right";
    - absolutely, perfectly, utterly
     
  2. Quickly and without warning
    "he stopped dead";
    - suddenly, all of a sudden, on the spur of the moment, of a sudden, abruptly, short

Derived forms: deadest, deader, deads

See also: aliveness, animation, asleep, assassinated, at peace, at rest, bloodless, brain dead, breathless, cold, complete, d.o.a., deathlike, deathly, deceased, defunct, departed, doomed, exanimate, executed, exsanguine, exsanguinous, extinct, fallen, gone, inactive, inanimate, inelastic, inoperative, insensitive, late, life, lifeless, living, murdered, noncurrent, nonextant, nonresonant, nonviable, out, out of play, precise, pulseless, slain [literary], standing, stillborn, stone-dead, tired, uncharged, unprofitable, unreverberant, vitality

Type of: people, time

Antonym: alive, live, living

Encyclopedia: Dead, Hot And Ready