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Antonyms for deadness


Grammar : Noun
Spell : ded
Phonetic Transcription : dɛd



Definition of deadness

Origin :
  • Old English dead "dead," also "torpid, dull;" of water, "still, standing," from Proto-Germanic *dauthaz (cf. Old Saxon dod, Danish død, Swedish död, Old Frisian dad, Middle Dutch doot, Dutch dood, Old High German tot, German tot, Old Norse dauðr, Gothic dauþs "dead"), from PIE *dhou-toz-, from root *dheu- (3) "to die" (see die (v.)).
  • Meaning "insensible" is first attested early 13c. Of places, "inactive, dull," from 1580s. Used from 16c. in adjectival sense of "utter, absolute, quite" (cf. dead drunk first attested 1590s; dead heat, 1796). As an adverb, from late 14c. Dead on is 1889, from marksmanship. Dead duck is from 1844. Dead letter is from 1703, used of laws lacking force as well as uncollected mail. Phrase in the dead of the night first recorded 1540s.
  • For but ich haue bote of mi bale I am ded as dorenail (c.1350).
  • Dead soldier "emptied liquor bottle" is from 1913 in that form; the image is older:
  • Dead man, or Dead marine, a colloquialism for an empty bottle, possibly in humorous recognition of the fact that the spirits have departed. But the French also have the same phrase, un corps mort, a dead body, for which there can be no punning pretext. [Walsh, 1892]
  • As in inertia : noun disinclination to move; lifelessness
  • As in tedium : noun dullness, monotony
  • As in pins and needles : noun tingling sensation
Example sentences :
  • In alluding just now to our system of education, I spoke of the deadness of its details.
  • Extract from : « Essays, Second Series » by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • "Just a taste, to take off the deadness of the water," said Driscoll.
  • Extract from : « Davenport Dunn, Volume 1 (of 2) » by Charles James Lever
  • The deadness went out of her voice, and it lifted to another note.
  • Extract from : « The Best Short Stories of 1920 » by Various
  • As an item of interest, did you know that your house has lost its deadness?
  • Extract from : « Highways in Hiding » by George Oliver Smith
  • By that time there was no longer a doubt about his deadness.
  • Extract from : « Myths & Legends of our New Possessions & Protectorate » by Charles M. Skinner
  • He was all life: there was no deadness, no coldness—he was all life.
  • Extract from : « The Hour and the Man » by Harriet Martineau
  • See your deadness as a challenge and resolve not to be overcome by it but to overcome it.
  • Extract from : « An Interpretation of Friends Worship » by N. Jean Toomer
  • Yet there was one spot where it seemed that deadness made encampment.
  • Extract from : « Northern Lights » by Gilbert Parker
  • What struck me at once was the deadness of everything I looked upon.
  • Extract from : « Over the Teacups » by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
  • Then he wheeled eastward and the light paled into the deadness of despair.
  • Extract from : « The Tyranny of Weakness » by Charles Neville Buck

Synonyms for deadness

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019