What does "dead" mean?
Time when coldness, darkness, or stillness is most intense.
Dead
/dɛd/ adj, adv, noun, verb, slang
adj, adv, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Time when coldness, darkness, or stillness is most intense.
- Grammar: dead is listed as adj, adv, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: a outrance, abeyant, abrupt, abruptly.
- Useful contrasts: alive, live, living.
- Usage evidence: I am dead after reading that thread.
How to use "dead"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "dead" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "dead" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "dead" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "dead" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "dead" is acting as adj, adv, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "a outrance" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "dead", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Time when coldness, darkness, or stillness is most intense. often, uncountable, with-definite-article
"Near-synonym: nadir"
- 2 (usually in the plural) Sterile mining waste, often present as many large rocks stacked inside the workings. UK
- 3 Initialism of diethyl azodicarboxylate. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
- 4 people who are no longer living wordnet
- 5 Those who have died: dead people. uncountable, with-definite-article
"the quick and the dead"
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 Clipping of deadlift. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, colloquial
- 7 Acronym of destruction of enemy air defense(s). abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable
- 8 a time when coldness (or some other quality associated with death) is intense wordnet
Verb
- 1 To prevent by disabling; to stop. transitive
"1826, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Edward Reynolds, Lord Bishop of Norwich, collected by Edward Reynolds, Benedict Riveley, and Alexander Chalmers. pp. 227. London: B. Holdsworth. “What a man should do, when finds his natural impotency dead him in spiritual works”"
- 2 To make dead; to deaden; to deprive of life, force, or vigour. transitive
"Heaven's stern decree, / With many an ill, hath numb'd and deaded me."
- 3 To kill. UK, US, slang, transitive
"I shoulda deaded it from genesis instead of hittin' the Guinnesses"
- 4 To discontinue or put an end to (something). broadly, slang, transitive
""I thought I told you to shut up," said Jesus. "I don't be laying up with chickenheads, so you need to dead that shit before you piss me the fuck off.""
Adjective
- 1 No longer living; deceased. (Also used as a noun.) not-comparable, usually
"All of my grandparents are dead."
- 2 Devoid of living things; barren. not-comparable, usually
"a dead planet"
- 3 Figuratively, not alive; lacking life. excessive, not-comparable, usually
"When a man's verses cannot be understood, nor a man's good wit seconded with the forward child, understanding, it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room."
- 4 Utterly exhausted. not-comparable, usually
"“Finished the last one at three this morning, apart from bits and bobs and poppers. Quite frankly, I'm dead!”"
- 5 So hated or offensive as to be absolutely shunned, ignored, or ostracized. not-comparable, usually
"He is dead to me."
Show 25 more definitions
- 6 Doomed; marked for death; as good as dead. not-comparable, usually
""You come back here this instant! Oh, you're dead, mister!""
- 7 Without emotion; impassive. not-comparable, usually
"She stood with dead face and limp arms, unresponsive to my plea."
- 8 Stationary; static; immobile or immovable. not-comparable, usually
"the dead load on the floor"
- 9 Without interest to one of the senses; dull; flat. not-comparable, usually
"dead air"
- 10 Unproductive; fallow. not-comparable, usually
"dead time"
- 11 Past, bygone, vanished. not-comparable, usually
"Then shall the Times that were be Times no more; and it may be that the old, dead days shall return from beyond the Rim, and we who have wept for them shall see those days again, as one who, returning from long travel to his home, comes suddenly on dear, remembered things."
- 12 Lacking usual activity; unexpectedly quiet or empty of people. not-comparable, usually
"For a Friday night, it's really dead in this restaurant."
- 13 Completely inactive; currently without power; without a signal; not live. not-comparable, usually
"OK, the circuit's dead. Go ahead and cut the wire."
- 14 Unable to emit power, being discharged (flat) or faulty. not-comparable, usually
- 15 Broken or inoperable. not-comparable, usually
"That monitor is dead; don’t bother hooking it up."
- 16 No longer used or required. not-comparable, usually
"There are several dead laws still on the books regulating where horses may be hitched."
- 17 Intentionally designed so as not to impart motion or power. not-comparable, usually
"the dead spindle of a lathe"
- 18 Not in play. not-comparable, usually
"Once the ball crosses the foul line, it's dead."
- 19 Lying so near the hole that the player is certain to hole it in the next stroke. not-comparable, usually
- 20 Tagged out. not-comparable, slang, usually
- 21 Full and complete (usually applied to nouns involving lack of motion, sound, activity, or other signs of life). not-comparable, usually
"dead stop"
- 22 Exact; on the dot. not-comparable, usually
"dead center"
- 23 Experiencing pins and needles (paresthesia). not-comparable, usually
"After sitting on my hands for a while, my arms became dead."
- 24 Expresses an emotional reaction associated with hyperbolic senses of die:; Dying of laughter. Internet, excessive, not-comparable, often, sometimes, usually
"Lmao I’m dead this was me to my fiancé since I found out in the car and my son was in the back seat 😭"
- 25 Expresses an emotional reaction associated with hyperbolic senses of die:; Expresses shock, second-hand embarrassment, etc. Internet, not-comparable, often, sometimes, usually
- 26 Constructed so as not to reflect or transmit sound; soundless; anechoic. not-comparable, usually
"a dead floor"
- 27 Bringing death; deadly. not-comparable, obsolete, usually
"You breathe these dead news in as dead an ear."
- 28 Cut off from the rights of a citizen; deprived of the power of enjoying the rights of property. not-comparable, usually
"A person who is banished or who becomes a monk is civilly dead."
- 29 Indifferent to; having no obligation toward; no longer subject to or ruled by (sin, guilt, pleasure, etc). especially, not-comparable, often, rare, usually
"He was dead to the law. Whatever account others might make of it, yet, for his part, he was dead to it. […] But though he was thus dead to the law, yet he […] was far from thinking himself discharged from his duty to God' on the contrary, he was dead to the law, that he might live unto God."
- 30 Of a syllable in languages such as Thai and Burmese: ending abruptly. not-comparable, usually
"[…] syllable is dead, the tone will depend on whether the vowel is short or long."
Adjective
- 1 devoid of activity wordnet
- 2 physically inactive wordnet
- 3 no longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life wordnet
- 4 not showing characteristics of life especially the capacity to sustain life; no longer exerting force or having energy or heat wordnet
- 5 drained of electric charge; discharged wordnet
Show 12 more definitions
- 6 the complete stoppage of an action wordnet
- 7 no longer having force or relevance wordnet
- 8 out of use or operation because of a fault or breakdown wordnet
- 9 lacking resilience or bounce wordnet
- 10 not surviving in active use wordnet
- 11 not circulating or flowing wordnet
- 12 unerringly accurate wordnet
- 13 not yielding a return wordnet
- 14 lacking acoustic resonance wordnet
- 15 devoid of physical sensation; numb wordnet
- 16 (followed by ‘to’) not showing human feeling or sensitivity; unresponsive wordnet
- 17 very tired wordnet
Adverb
- 1 Exactly. colloquial, informal, not-comparable
"dead right; dead level; dead flat; dead straight; dead left"
- 2 Very, absolutely, extremely. colloquial, informal, not-comparable
"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; dead scared; dead solid; dead black; dead white; dead empty"
- 3 Suddenly and completely. not-comparable
"He stopped dead."
- 4 As if dead. informal, not-comparable
"dead tired; dead quiet; dead asleep; dead pale; dead cold; dead still"
Adverb
- 1 completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers wordnet
- 2 quickly and without warning wordnet
- 3 happening unexpectedly wordnet
- 4 on impulse; without premeditation wordnet
Slang
- 1 Laughing very hard (hyperbolic). slang, internet, 2010s-2020s
"I am dead after reading that thread."
Example
"I am dead after reading that thread."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "dead"?
Common synonyms include: a outrance, abeyant, abrupt, abruptly, abruptly, absolute.
How do you use "dead" in a sentence?
I am dead after reading that thread.
How do you pronounce "dead"?
Pronounced /dɛd/.
Etymology
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, Norwegian død, Norwegian Nynorsk daud.