adjective / noun / adverb
dead
DED/ded/
No longer possessing life or activity.
The dead plant has collapsed brown leaves and a brittle stem.
Etymology
Old English dead already covered both having ceased to live and being torpid or dull. This broader association with inactivity connects literal death to the description of something that no longer functions.
In context
All through the winter the dead rotted by the wayside for want of some one to bury them. In many a village no single man was left alive.
More examples
- My phone is dead, so I need a charger.
- The ceremony honors the dead.
- You're dead right about the cost.
Forms
dead · deader · deadest
deaden verb — To make less active or sensitive.
Similar words
- deceased
- Refers to people who have died, usually in formal contexts.
- lifeless
- Can describe something merely motionless, not actually dead.
- inactive
- Means not currently active, without implying permanent loss of function.