Wiktionary

undead

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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

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

Adjective

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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

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Noun

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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

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See also

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