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death

Syllabification: (death)
Pronunciation: /deTH/
Translate death | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of death

noun

  • the action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of the life of a person or organism:I don’t believe in life after death an increase in deaths from skin cancer [as modifier]:a death sentence
  • the state of being dead:even in death, she was beautiful
  • the permanent ending of vital processes in a cell or tissue.
  • (Death) [in singular] the personification of the power that destroys life, often represented in art and literature as a skeleton or an old man holding a scythe.
  • [in singular] the destruction or permanent end of something:the death of her hopes
  • informal a damaging or destructive state of affairs:to be driven to a dance by one’s father would be social death

Phrases

at death's door

(especially in hyperbolic use) so ill that one might die.

be the death of

(often used hyperbolically or humorously) cause someone’s death:you’ll be the death of me with all your questions

be in at the death

be present when a hunted animal is caught and killed.
be present when something fails or comes to an end.

catch one's death (of cold)

informal catch a severe cold or chill.

do someone to death

kill someone.

do something to death

perform or repeat something so frequently that it becomes tediously familiar:a subject that has been done to death by generations of painters

a fate worse than death

a terrible experience, especially that of seduction or rape.

like death warmed over (or up)

informal extremely tired or ill.

a matter of life and death

see life.

put someone to death

kill someone, especially with official sanction.

till (or until) death us do part

for as long as both people in a couple live.
[from the marriage service in the Book of Common Prayer]

to death

used of a particular action or process that results in someone’s death:he was stabbed to death
used to emphasize the extreme nature of a specific action, feeling, or state of mind:I’m sick to death of you the story scared me to death

to the death

until dead:a fight to the death

Derivatives

deathlike

Pronunciation: /-ˌlīk/
adjective

Origin:

Old English dēath, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dood and German Tod, also to die1

death in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of death in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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