dead  (dd) adj. dead·er, dead·est Having lost life; no longer alive. Marked for certain death; doomed: was marked as a dead man by the assassin. Having the physical appearance of death: a dead pallor. Lacking feeling or sensitivity; numb or unresponsive: Passersby were dead to our pleas for help. Weary and worn-out; exhausted. Not having the capacity to live; inanimate or inert. Not having the capacity to produce or sustain life; barren: dead soil. No longer in existence, use, or operation. No longer having significance or relevance. Physically inactive; dormant: a dead volcano. Not commercially productive; idle: dead capital. Not circulating or running; stagnant: dead water; dead air. Devoid of human or vehicular activity; quiet: a dead town. Lacking all animation, excitement, or activity; dull: The party being dead, we left early. Having no resonance. Used of sounds: “One characteristic of compact discs we all can hear is dead sound. It may be pure but it has no life” (Musical Heritage Review). Having grown cold; having been extinguished: dead coals; a dead flame. Lacking elasticity or bounce: That tennis ball is dead. Out of operation because of a fault or breakdown: The motor is dead. Sudden; abrupt: a dead stop. Complete; utter: dead silence. Exact; unerring. the dead center of a target. Sports. Out of play. Used of a ball. Lacking connection to a source of electric current. Drained of electric charge; discharged: a dead battery. n. One who has died: respect for the dead. The period exhibiting the greatest degree of intensity: the dead of winter; the dead of night. adv. Absolutely; altogether: You can be dead sure of my innocence. Directly; exactly: There's a gas station dead ahead. Suddenly: She stopped dead on the stairway. Idioms: dead and buried No longer in use or under consideration: All past animosities are dead and buried now. dead in the water Unable to function or move: The crippled ship was dead in the water. With no leadership, the project was dead in the water. dead to rights In the very act of making an error or committing a crime: The police caught the thief dead to rights with my silverware. [Middle English ded, from Old English dad. See dheu-2 in Indo-European Roots.] deadness n. Synonyms: dead, deceased, departed, extinct, lifeless, inanimate These adjectives all mean without life. Dead applies in general to whatever once hadbut no longer hasphysical life (a dead man; a dead leaf), function (a dead battery), or force or currency (a dead issue; a dead language). Deceased and departed refer only to nonliving humans: attended a memorial service for a recently deceased friend; looking at pictures of departed relatives. Extinct can refer to what has no living successors (extinct species such as the dodo) or to what is extinguished or inactive (an extinct volcano). Lifeless applies to what no longer has physical life (a lifeless body), to what does not support life (a lifeless planet), or to what lacks animation, spirit, or brightness (a lifeless performance; lifeless colors). Inanimate is most often limited to what has never had physical life: “The anchored gunboat simply would not sink. It evinced that unnatural stubbornness which is sometimes displayed by inanimate objects” (Stephen Crane).