ENGLISH
REFERENCE

undead

adj.
B2 Upper Intermediate UK //ˌʌndˈɛd// un·dead Archaic

adj. describing a creature from a story that is technically dead but still moves and acts like it is alive. You use this for monsters like vampires or zombies.

adj. relating to a fictional being that is deceased yet behaves as if alive. Often used in the context of horror or fantasy literature to describe reanimated corpses.


SIMPLE

The movie features a terrifying army of undead soldiers.

CONTEXTUAL

In many classic horror stories, the undead characters must return to their graves before the sun rises.

COMPLEX

The novel explores the psychological burden of being undead, focusing on a protagonist who retains his human memories while trapped in a decaying, immortal body.

Origin

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 novel Dracula (1897).

Usage

Commonly used as a collective noun when preceded by 'the' ('the undead'), functioning as a plural noun phrase.

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