dead
adjective · adverb · noun · verb
Simple meaning
No longer living.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dehdIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdɛd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
usually not comparable
No longer living; deceased. (Also used as a noun.)
usually not comparable
Devoid of living things; barren.
No longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life
hyperbolic
Figuratively, not alive; lacking life.
of another person
So hated or offensive as to be absolutely shunned, ignored, or ostracized.
Without emotion; impassive.
adverb
Completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers
Suddenly and completely.
informal
As if dead.
noun
A time when coldness (or some other quality associated with death) is intense
often with "the"
Time when coldness, darkness, or stillness is most intense.
with "the"
Those who have died: dead people.
verb
transitive
To make dead; to deaden; to deprive of life, force, or vigour.
transitive
To prevent by disabling; to stop.
transitiveukusslang
To kill.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: No longer living; deceased. (Also used as a noun.)
Used this way, dead is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a grammar or language-study use: it describes how language works, so it appears in teaching and reference writing.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Formal
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Where it naturally appears
- Academic writing
- Education/classroom
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
Comfortable in writing and prepared speech; in casual conversation a shorter everyday word usually sounds more natural.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use dead
- “The old tree in the backyard looks completely dead.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The oppressive influence of past events or decisions.
A tie in a race.
A language that is no longer learned as a native language.
A constant load on a structure (e.g. a bridge) due to the weight of the supported structure itself.
Mail that can neither be delivered nor returned.
The fruiting bodies of the fungi of the genus Xylaria.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A branch or a part of a tree that is dead.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.