dead

A living thing or person that stops living is dead. The opposite of "dead" is "alive."

• The man is no longer alive. He’s dead.
• There’s a dead crow in my front yard.
• A cemetery is full of people who are dead.
• You should be respectful of the dead. (In this sentence, "dead" is a noun.)
• The police found a dead body inside the apartment. The person had been dead for several days.

This word is very popular when describing a person’s condition. If someone is tired or in trouble, or if a thing is not working, you can use this adjective.

• My car’s dead. (It doesn’t work.)
• The battery in my phone is dead.
• Traffic came to a dead stop. (It stopped moving.)
• I’m dead tired.
• We’re dead if we don’t get this assignment done on time.
• Uh oh. You’re dead. (You’re in trouble.)

The word "deadly" is an adverb, but it’s also an adjective. A thing that’s deadly causes death.

• The young woman drank a deadly poison.
• He’s deadly serious about his work.
• Two teenage girls were involved in a deadly car crash over the weekend.

There are a few other ways of using the word "dead."

• A deadline is the time when something must be finished. You can’t go past a deadline.
• A dead end is the end of a road. You can’t continue because of an obstacle or there’s no more pavement.
• A dead end is also a situation in which a person can’t move forward or improve. When you’ve reached a dead end, you have to do something different.
• Law enforcement officials often say they want to capture a dangerous suspect dead or alive.
• Nocturnal animals come out in the dead of night. (the dead of night = the middle of the night when it’s very dark and very quiet)

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Date of publication: September 5, 2016