dead: Meaning and Definition of

dead

Pronunciation: (ded), [key]
— adj., n., adv. -er, -est,
—adj.
  1. no longer living; deprived of life: dead people; dead flowers; dead animals.
  2. brain-dead.
  3. not endowed with life; inanimate: dead stones.
  4. resembling death; deathlike: a dead sleep; a dead faint.
  5. bereft of sensation; numb: He was half dead with fright. My leg feels dead.
  6. lacking sensitivity of feeling; insensitive: dead to the needs of others.
  7. incapable of being emotionally moved; unresponsive: dead to the nuances of the music.
  8. (of an emotion) no longer felt; ended; extinguished: a dead passion; dead affections.
  9. no longer current or prevalent, as in effect, significance, or practice; obsolete: a dead law; a dead controversy.
  10. no longer functioning, operating, or productive: a dead motor; a dead battery.
  11. not moving or circulating; stagnant; stale: dead water; dead air.
  12. utterly tired; exhausted: They felt dead from the six-hour trip.
  13. (of a language) no longer in use as a sole means of oral communication among a people: Latin is a dead language.
  14. without vitality, spirit, enthusiasm, or the like: a dead party.
  15. lacking the customary activity; dull; inactive: a dead business day.
  16. complete; absolute: dead silence; The plan was a dead loss.
  17. sudden or abrupt, as the complete stoppage of an action: The bus came to a dead stop.
  18. put out; extinguished: a dead cigarette.
  19. without resilience or bounce: a dead tennis ball.
  20. infertile; barren: dead land.
  21. exact; precise: the dead center of a circle.
  22. accurate; sure; unerring: a dead shot.
  23. direct; straight: a dead line.
  24. tasteless or flat, as a beverage: a dead soft drink.
  25. flat rather than glossy, bright, or brilliant: The house was painted dead white.
  26. without resonance; anechoic: dead sound; a dead wall surface of a recording studio.
  27. not fruitful; unproductive: dead capital.
  28. deprived of civil rights so that one is in the state of civil death, esp. deprived of the rights of property.
  29. out of play: a dead ball.
  30. (of a golf ball) lying so close to the hole as to make holing on the next stroke a virtual certainty.
  31. (of type or copy) having been used or rejected.
    1. free from any electric connection to a source of potential difference and from electric charge.
    2. not having a potential different from that of the earth.
  32. (of steel)
    1. fully killed.
    2. unresponsive to heat treatment.
  33. (of the mouth of a horse) no longer sensitive to the pressure of a bit.
  34. noting any rope in a tackle that does not pass over a pulley or is not rove through a block.
  35. 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.
  36. in the very act of committing a crime, offense, or mistake; red-handed.
—n.
  1. the period of greatest darkness, coldness, etc.: the dead of night; the dead of winter.
  2. dead persons collectively: Prayers were recited for the dead.
—adv.
  1. absolutely; completely: dead right; dead tired.
  2. with sudden and total stoppage of motion, action, or the like: He stopped dead.
  3. directly; exactly; straight: The island lay dead ahead.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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