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dead

  • adjective 1 no longer alive. 2 (of a part of the body) numb. 3 displaying no emotion. 4 no longer relevant or important. 5 lacking activity or excitement. 6 devoid of living things. 7 (of equipment) not functioning. 8 complete; absolute: dead silence.

  • adverb 1 absolutely. 2 exactly. 3 straight; directly. 4 Brit. informal very.

  — PHRASES dead and buried over; finished. the dead of night the quietest, darkest part of the night. the dead of winter the coldest part of winter. dead on one’s feet informal extremely tired. dead to the world informal fast asleep. from the dead from being dead; from death.

  — DERIVATIVES deadness noun.

  — ORIGIN Old English, related to DIE1.

 

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