Dumb vs Dead - What's the difference?

dumb | dead | Related terms |

Dumb is a related term of dead.

As an adjective dumb

is (label) unable to speak; lacking power of speech.

As a verb dumb

is to silence.

As a noun dead is

tooth.

dumb

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) dumb, from (etyl) . In ordinary spoken English, a phrase like "He is dumb" is interpreted as "He is stupid" rather than "He lacks the power of speech". The latter example, however, is the original sense of the word. The senses of stupid'', ''unintellectual'', and ''pointless developed under the influence of the (etyl) word dumm.

Adjective

(er)

(label) Unable to speak; lacking power of speech.

* Hooker

to unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures

(label) Silent; unaccompanied by words.

dumb show

* Shakespeare

This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.

* J. C. Shairp

to pierce into the dumb past

extremely stupid.

You are so dumb ! You don't even know how to make toast!

(label) Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.

This is dumb ! We're driving in circles! We should have asked for directions an hour ago!

Brendan had the dumb job of moving boxes from one conveyor belt to another.

Lacking brightness or clearness, as a colour.

* De Foe

Her stern was painted of a dumb white or dun color.

Synonyms

* (unable to speak) dumbstruck, mute, speechless, wordless * (stupid) feeble-minded, idiotic, moronic, stupid * banal, brainless, dopey, silly, stupid, ridiculous, vulgar

Derived terms

* dumb as a box of rocks * dumben * dumbhood * dummy * dumbness

Etymology 2

From (etyl) dumbien, from (etyl) dumbian (more commonly in compound .

Verb

(en verb)

To silence.

* 1911 , Lindsay Swift, William Lloyd Garrison , p. 272,

The paralysis of the Northern conscience, the dumbing of the Northern voice, were coming to an end.

To make stupid.

* 2003 , Angela Calabrese Barton, Teaching Science for Social Justice , p. 124,

I think she's dumbing us down, so we won't be smarter than her.

To represent as stupid.

* 2004 , Stephen Oppenheimer, The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa , p. 107,

Bad-mouthing Neanderthals . . . is symptomatic of a need to exclude and even demonize. . . . I suggest that the unproven dumbing of the Neanderthals is an example of the same cultural preconception.

To reduce the intellectual demands of.

* 2002 , Deborah Meier, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing , p. 126,

The ensuing storm caused the department to lower the bar—amid protests that this was dumbing the test down—so that only 80 percent of urban kids would fail.

Derived terms

* dumbness * dumb blonde * dumb down * dumbocracy * dumb-show * dumb terminal * dummy * play dumb

dead

English

Adjective

(er)

(not comparable) No longer living.

All of my grandparents are dead .

(hyperbole) Figuratively, not alive; lacking life

* 1600 , (William Shakespeare), (As You Like It) , Act III, Scene 3:

When a man's verses cannot be understood, nor a man's good wit seconded with the forward child, understanding, it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room.

(of another person) So hated that they are absolutely ignored.

He is dead to me.

Without emotion.

She stood with dead face and limp arms, unresponsive to my plea.

Stationary; static.

the dead''' load on the floor''; ''a '''dead lift .

Without interest to one of the senses; dull; flat.

dead''' air''; ''a '''dead glass of soda .

Unproductive.

dead''' time''; '''''dead fields ; also in compounds.

Completely inactive; without power; without a signal.

OK, the circuit's dead . Go ahead and cut the wire.

Now that the motor's dead you can reach in and extract the spark plugs.

(not comparable) Broken or inoperable.

That monitor is dead ; don’t bother hooking it up.

(not comparable) No longer used or required.

There are several dead laws still on the books regulating where horses may be hitched.

Is this beer glass dead ?

(not comparable, sports) Not in play.

Once the ball crosses the foul line, it's dead .

Tagged out.

(not comparable) Full and complete.

dead''' stop''; '''''dead''' sleep''; '''''dead''' giveaway''; '''''dead silence

(not comparable) Exact.

dead''' center''; '''''dead''' aim''; ''a '''dead''' eye''; ''a '''dead level

Experiencing pins and needles (paresthesia).

After sitting on my hands for a while, my arms became dead .

(informal) (Certain to be) in big trouble.

"You come back here this instant! Oh, when I get my hands on you, you're dead , mister!"

Constructed so as not to transmit sound; soundless.

a dead floor

(obsolete) Bringing death; deadly.

(Shakespeare)

(legal) Cut off from the rights of a citizen; deprived of the power of enjoying the rights of property.

A person who is banished or who becomes a monk is civilly dead .

(engineering) Not imparting motion or power.

the dead spindle of a lathe

Quotations

* (English Citations of "dead")

Synonyms

* See also

Antonyms

* alive * living

Adverb

(-)

(lb) Exactly right.

dead''' right''; '''''dead''' level''; '''''dead''' flat''; '''''dead''' straight''; '''''dead left

He hit the target dead in the centre.

(lb) Very, absolutely, extremely, suddenly.

dead''' wrong''; '''''dead''' set''; '''''dead''' serious''; '''''dead''' drunk''; '''''dead''' broke''; '''''dead''' earnest''; '''''dead''' certain''; '''''dead''' slow''; '''''dead''' sure''; '''''dead''' simple''; '''''dead''' honest''; '''''dead''' accurate''; '''''dead''' easy''; '''''dead''' scared''; '''''dead''' solid''; '''''dead''' black''; '''''dead''' white''; '''''dead empty ;

As if dead.

dead''' tired''; '''''dead''' quiet''; '''''dead''' asleep''; '''''dead''' pale''; '''''dead''' cold''; '''''dead still

* (and other bibliographic particulars) (Charles Dickens)

I was tired of reading, and dead sleepy.

Noun

(dead)

(in the singular) Time when coldness, darkness, or stillness is most intense.

The dead''' of night.'' ''The '''dead of winter.

(in the plural) Those who have died.

Have respect for the dead .

Synonyms

* (those who have died) the deceased

Verb

(en verb)

(archaic) Formerly, "be dead" was used instead of "have died" as the perfect tense of "die".

"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead [????????] in vain." Galatians 2:21, King James Version (1611).

To prevent by disabling; stop.

* 1826 , The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Edward Reynolds, Lord Bishop of Norwich , collected by Edward Reynolds, Benedict Riveley, and Alexander Chalmers. pp. 227. London: B. Holdsworth.

“What a man should do, when finds his natural impotency dead him in spiritual works”

To make dead; to deaden; to deprive of life, force, or vigour.

* Chapman

Heaven's stern decree, / With many an ill, hath numbed and deaded me.

(UK, transitive, slang) To kill.

* 2006 , Leighanne Boyd, Once Upon A Time In The Bricks (page 178)

This dude at the club was trying to kill us so I deaded him, and then I had to collect from Spice.

* 2008 , Marvlous Harrison, The Coalition (page 106)

“What, you was just gonna dead him because if that's the case then why the fuck we getting the money?” Sha asked annoyed.

Derived terms

* better dead than red * brain dead/brain-dead * clinically dead * dead air * dead as a dodo * dead as a doorknob * dead as a doornail * dead ball * dead bat * deadbeat * dead body * dead-born/deadborn * dead cat bounce * dead center * dead code * dead donkey * dead duck * dead end * dead giveaway * deadhead * dead heat * dead horse * dead ice * dead-in-shell * dead in the water * dead language * dead last * dead leg * dead letter * deadline/dead line * dead link * deadlock * dead man/dead man's hand * dead march * dead marine * dead meat * dead men * dead metaphor * deadnettle * dead on * dead or alive * deadpan * dead president * dead reckoning * dead rubber * Dead Sea * dead serious * dead set against * dead soldier * dead space * dead sticking * dead to the world * dead tree * dead water * dead weight * deadwood * dead zone * drop dead * * leave for dead * living dead * not be caught dead * over my dead body * play dead * stop dead

Statistics

Anagrams

* English degree adverbs 1000 English basic words ----