no longer living:The victim was dead on arrival at the hospital.
not endowed with life; inanimate:a dead planet, like Mercury.
[before a noun] resembling death; deathlike:a dead faint.
having no sensation or feeling; numb:My arm felt dead after I fell asleep on it.
(of an emotion) no longer felt; extinguished:a dead passion.
not working; inoperative:a dead battery.
stagnant or stale:dead air.
utterly tired; exhausted:I was dead after that twenty-hour day.
Linguistics(of a language) no longer in use as a means of oral communication among a people.
dull or inactive:a dead business day.
[before a noun] total; complete; absolute:The car squealed to a dead stop.
[before a noun] exact; precise:the dead center of a target.
Sportout of play:a dead ball.
n.
[ noncount; often: the + ~ + of] the period of greatest darkness, coldness, etc.:the dead of night.
the dead, [plural; used with a plural verb] dead people; those who have died:the souls of the dead.
adv.
absolutely; completely; very much:dead tired.
directly; straight:The target is dead ahead.
Idioms
Idiomsdead to rights, in the very act of committing a crime or doing wrong:I had them dead to rights when they submitted identical term papers.
dead is an adjective and a noun, deadly is an adjective, death is a noun, die is a verb, deathly is an adjective:The police found the dead body. The dead cannot rise from their graves. It was a deadly mistake. He is afraid of death. He is afraid to die. He is deathly pale.
no longer living; deprived of life:dead people;dead flowers;dead animals.
brain-dead.
not endowed with life; inanimate:dead stones.
resembling death; deathlike:a dead sleep; a dead faint.
bereft of sensation; numb:He was half dead with fright. My leg feels dead.
lacking sensitivity of feeling; insensitive:dead to the needs of others.
incapable of being emotionally moved; unresponsive:dead to the nuances of the music.
(of an emotion) no longer felt; ended; extinguished:a dead passion; dead affections.
no longer current or prevalent, as in effect, significance, or practice; obsolete:a dead law; a dead controversy.
no longer functioning, operating, or productive:a dead motor; a dead battery.
not moving or circulating; stagnant; stale:dead water; dead air.
utterly tired; exhausted:They felt dead from the six-hour trip.
Linguistics(of a language) no longer in use as a sole means of oral communication among a people:Latin is a dead language.
without vitality, spirit, enthusiasm, or the like:a dead party.
lacking the customary activity; dull; inactive:a dead business day.
complete; absolute:dead silence; The plan was a dead loss.
sudden or abrupt, as the complete stoppage of an action:The bus came to a dead stop.
put out; extinguished:a dead cigarette.
without resilience or bounce:a dead tennis ball.
infertile; barren:dead land.
exact; precise:the dead center of a circle.
accurate; sure; unerring:a dead shot.
direct; straight:a dead line.
tasteless or flat, as a beverage:a dead soft drink.
flat rather than glossy, bright, or brilliant:The house was painted dead white.
without resonance; anechoic:dead sound; a dead wall surface of a recording studio.
not fruitful; unproductive:dead capital.
Lawdeprived of civil rights so that one is in the state of civil death, esp. deprived of the rights of property.
Sportout of play:a dead ball.
Sport(of a golf ball) lying so close to the hole as to make holing on the next stroke a virtual certainty.
(of type or copy) having been used or rejected.
Electricity
free from any electric connection to a source of potential difference and from electric charge.
not having a potential different from that of the earth.
Metallurgy(of steel)
fully killed.
unresponsive to heat treatment.
(of the mouth of a horse) no longer sensitive to the pressure of a bit.
Nautical, Naval Termsnoting any rope in a tackle that does not pass over a pulley or is not rove through a block.
Idiomsdead in the water, completely inactive or inoperable; no longer in action or under consideration:Our plans to expand the business have been dead in the water for the past two months.
Idiomsdead to rights, in the very act of committing a crime, offense, or mistake; red-handed.
n.
the period of greatest darkness, coldness, etc.:the dead of night; the dead of winter.
the dead, dead persons collectively:Prayers were recited for the dead.
adv.
absolutely; completely:dead right; dead tired.
with sudden and total stoppage of motion, action, or the like:He stopped dead.
directly; exactly; straight:The island lay dead ahead.
bef. 950; Middle English deed, Old English dēad; cognate with Gothic dauths, German tot, Old Norse daudhr; origin, originally past participle See die1
dead′ness, n.
1.See corresponding entry in UnabridgedDead,deceased,extinct,lifeless refer to something that does not have or appear to have life. Dead is usually applied to something that had life but from which life is now gone:dead trees.Deceased, a more formal word than dead, is applied to human beings who no longer have life:a deceased member of the church.Extinct is applied to a race, species, or the like, no member of which is any longer alive:Mastodons are now extinct.Lifeless is applied to something that may or may not have had life but that does not have it or appear to have it now:The lifeless body of a child was taken out of the water. Minerals consist of lifeless materials.
6.See corresponding entry in Unabridged unfeeling, indifferent, callous, cold.
10.See corresponding entry in Unabridged inert, inoperative.
11.See corresponding entry in Unabridged still, motionless.
16.See corresponding entry in Unabridged utter, entire, total.
20.See corresponding entry in Unabridged sterile.
1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged living, alive.