undead

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ dead. The first attestation is from around 1400. Usage as a noun is attested from the early 20th century onwards.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʌnˈdɛd/
  • Rhymes: -ɛd

Adjective

undead (not comparable)

  1. Pertaining to a corpse, though having qualities of life.
  2. (horror fiction) Being animate, though non-living.

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Noun

the undead pl (plural only)

  1. (horror fiction) Those creatures which are undead; that is, dead yet still animate.
    In the zombie movie, an army of the undead accosted some nubile skinny-dipping teenagers.
    • 2017 July 16, Brandon Nowalk, “Chickens and dragons come home to roost on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club‎:
      It’s an episode of characters returning to their own pasts as different people. They can retrench like Cersei, back on her bullshit, I mean, warpath. Or they can adapt, like The Hound. Neither way necessarily ensures success, but we know the archmaester isn’t unequivocally right. We’ve seen dragons reborn and armies of the undead. I wouldn’t be so sure that Wall will stand forever.

Translations

Noun

undead (plural undeads)

  1. (horror fiction) A creature that is undead; that is, dead but still animate.
    • 1983, Tanith Lee}, The Wars of Vis
      "You will do me a service," the undead said to him.
    • 1997, Carol Margaret Davison, Paul Simpson-Housley, Bram Stoker's Dracula: sucking through the century, 1897-1997
      Innocent VIII lent credibility to the actual existence of undeads, an action that perpetuated, and even stimulated, vampire hysteria.

See also

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