Definition

1. Adjective:

   • No longer alive: Having ceased to live; not living.
   • Completely inactive or inoperative: Not functioning, moving, or operating; devoid of activity or life.
   • Lacking sensation or responsiveness: Numb, unfeeling, or showing no reaction.
   • Absolute, complete, or exact: Used to emphasize totality, certainty, or precision.
   • No longer relevant or in use: Having lost force, validity, or currency.

2. Noun:

   • People who are no longer living: Refers collectively to deceased persons.
   • The time of most intense quiet or cold: The middle or peak period of a time characterized by stillness (e.g., night, winter).

3. Adverb:

   • Completely, absolutely, or exactly: Used informally as an intensifier meaning "utterly" or "precisely."
   • Suddenly or abruptly: Quickly and without warning.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • The battery is dead. (The battery has no electrical charge and does not function.)
  • He was dead to the world after the long journey. (He was completely asleep or unconscious.)
  • It's a dead certainty that the sun will rise. (It is an absolute certainty.)
  • Latin is considered a dead language. (Latin is no longer spoken as a native language.)
  • My fingers felt dead from the cold. (My fingers were numb and lacked sensation.)

• Noun:

  • They prayed for the dead. (They prayed for the people who have died.)
  • The silence was deepest in the dead of night. (The silence was most intense in the middle of the night.)

• Adverb:

  • You are dead right about that. (You are completely correct about that.)
  • He stopped dead when he saw the sign. (He stopped suddenly and completely when he saw the sign.)

Advanced Usage

• "dead to the world": In a very deep sleep or unconscious.
  • After the marathon, he was dead to the world for twelve hours.
• "dead in the water": Making no progress; completely stalled.
  • Without funding, the project is dead in the water.
• "dead set against": Completely opposed to something.
  • She is dead set against moving to another city.

Variants and Related Words

• Deadly (adj): Causing or capable of causing death; extremely accurate or effective.
  • The disease was deadly. / He is a deadly shot.
• Deaden (v): To make something less strong, intense, or sensitive.
  • The thick curtains deaden the street noise.
• Deadpan (adj/adv): In a deliberately impassive or expressionless manner.
  • He told the joke with a deadpan face.

Synonyms

• Adjective: Deceased, lifeless, extinct, inoperative, numb, absolute, utter.
• Noun: The deceased, the departed.
• Adverb: Completely, absolutely, utterly, exactly, directly, suddenly.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Die down: To become gradually less strong, loud, or active.
  • The storm finally died down.
• Die out: To become extinct or disappear completely.
  • Many ancient traditions have died out.

Related Idioms

• "Over my dead body": Used to express strong opposition; something will happen only if the speaker is dead.
  • You'll sell this house over my dead body!
• "Dead as a doornail": Completely and unquestionably dead.
  • The old computer is dead as a doornail.
• "Dead ringer for": Someone who looks exactly like another person.
  • He's a dead ringer for his father.
• "Dead weight": A heavy or oppressive burden.
  • Carrying the sofa upstairs was like lifting dead weight.

Adjective

1. devoid of activity; nothing ever happens here"
   • this is a dead town
2. drained of electric charge; discharged
   • a dead battery
   • left the lights on and came back to find the battery drained
3. complete
   • came to a dead stop
   • utter seriousness
4. no longer having force or relevance
   • a dead issue
5. out of use or operation because of a fault or breakdown
   • a dead telephone line
   • the motor is dead
6. lacking resilience or bounce
   • a dead tennis ball
7. not surviving in active use
   • Latin is a dead language
8. not circulating or flowing
   • dead air
   • dead water
   • stagnant water
9. not yielding a return
   • dead capital
   • idle funds
10. lacking acoustic resonance
    • dead sounds characteristic of some compact discs
    • the dead wall surfaces of a recording studio
11. devoid of physical sensation; numb
    • his gums were dead from the novocain
    • she felt no discomfort as the dentist drilled her deadened tooth
    • a public desensitized by continuous television coverage of atrocities
12. (followed by `to') not showing human feeling or sensitivity; unresponsive
    • passersby were dead to our plea for help
    • numb to the cries for mercy
13. physically inactive
    • Crater Lake is in the crater of a dead volcano of the Cascade Range
14. unerringly accurate
    • a dead shot
    • took dead aim
15. very tired
    • was all in at the end of the day
    • so beat I could flop down and go to sleep anywhere
    • bushed after all that exercise
    • I'm dead after that long trip
16. 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
17. no longer having or 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

Noun

1. a time when coldness (or some other quality associated with death) is intense
   • the dead of winter
2. people who are no longer living
   • they buried the dead

Adverb

1. completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers
   • an absolutely magnificent painting
   • a perfectly idiotic idea
   • you're perfectly right
   • utterly miserable
   • you can be dead sure of my innocence
   • was dead tired
   • dead right
2. quickly and without warning
   • he stopped suddenly