- completely; exactly
- You're dead right!
- (British English) a dead straight road
- (British English) The train was dead on time.
- He's dead against the idea.
- The sight made him stop dead in his tracks (= stop suddenly).
- She's dead set on getting (= determined to get) this new job.
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- (British English, informal) very; extremely
- The instructions are dead easy to follow.
- You were dead lucky to get that job.
- I was dead scared.
completely
very
Word OriginOld English dēad, of Germanic origin: related to Dutch dood and German tot, also to die.
Idioms
See dead in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarycut somebody dead
- (British English) to pretend not to have seen somebody; to refuse to say hello to somebody
- She saw me, recognized me and cut me dead.
dead to rights (North American English)
(British English bang to rights)
- (informal) with definite proof that you have committed a crime, so that you cannot claim to be innocent
- We've got you dead to rights handling stolen property.
Check pronunciation:
dead