English

edit

Alternative forms

edit

Etymology

edit

From Middle English undede, equivalent to un- +‎ dead. The first attestation is from around 1400. The term was revived, popularized, and imbued with supernatural connotations by its usage in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /ʌnˈdɛd/, /ˈʌndɛd/
  • Rhymes: -ɛd
  • Audio (UK):(file)

Adjective

edit

undead (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Not dead; alive.
  2. Pertaining to a corpse, though having qualities of life.
  3. (horror fiction) Being animate, though non-living.
    • 2018 November 27, April Wolfe, “Anna And The Apocalypse is a Holiday-horror Cocktail of Singing, Maiming, and Clichés”, in The A.V. Club[1], archived from the original on 4 November 2019:
      When Anna and John finally break out of their self-centered bubbles to the shock that they must battle to the death an undead neighbor in a giant snowman costume, it plays like a poignant comment on movie teenagers' tendency to indulge their inner lives, ignorant of the world around them.

Translations

edit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun

edit
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

undead (plural undead or (rare) undeads)

  1. (horror and fantasy fiction) A creature that is undead; that is, dead but still animate.
    In the zombie movie, an army of the undead accosted some unsuspecting teenagers.
    • 1983, Tanith Lee, The Wars of Vis[2]:
      "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.
    • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, New York: Doubleday & McClure, published 1899, page xxiv. 319:
      "Were another of the Un-Dead, like him, to try to do what he has done, perhaps not all the centuries of the world that have been, or that will be, could aid him."
    • 2006, The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, “Harley Got Devoured by the Undead”, in An Even Scarier Solstice:
      Harley got devoured by the undead / Lurking down in some old wizard's tomb / You can say there's no such thing as zombies / But that's how Harley Warren met his doom
    • 2017 July 16, Brandon Nowalk, “Chickens and dragons come home to roost on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club[3]:
      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

edit

See also

edit