— deadness , n.
/ded/ , adj., deader, deadest , n. , adv.
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 no longer current or prevalent, as in effect, significance, or practice; obsolete: a dead law; a dead controversy.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. Law. deprived of civil rights so that one is in the state of civil death, esp. deprived of the rights of property.
29. Sports. 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.
32. Elect.
a. free from any electric connection to a source of potential difference and from electric charge.
b. not having a potential different from that of the earth.
33. Metall. (of steel)
a. fully killed.
b. unresponsive to heat treatment.
34. (of the mouth of a horse) no longer sensitive to the pressure of a bit.
35. noting any rope in a tackle that does not pass over a pulley or is not rove through a block.
36. dead 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.
37. dead to rights , in the very act of committing a crime, offense, or mistake; red-handed.
n.
38. the period of greatest darkness, coldness, etc.: the dead of night; the dead of winter.
39. the dead , dead persons collectively: Prayers were recited for the dead.
adv.
40. absolutely; completely: dead right; dead tired.
41. with sudden and total stoppage of motion, action, or the like: He stopped dead.
42. directly; exactly; straight: The island lay dead ahead.
[ bef. 950; ME deed, OE dead; c. Goth dauths, G tot, ON daudhr; orig. ptp. See DIE 1 ]
Syn. 1. DEAD, 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. unfeeling, indifferent, callous, cold. 10. inert, inoperative. 11. still, motionless. 16. utter, entire, total. 20. sterile.
Ant. 1. living, alive.