ENGLISH
REFERENCE

zombie

n. countable
B1 Intermediate US //ˈzɑmbi// UK //zˈɒmbi// zom·bie Archaic Slang Vulgar

n. a dead person who has come back to life in movies and stories. These creatures usually move slowly and try to eat people.

n. a fictional undead being, typically a reanimated corpse that lacks self-awareness and feeds on living human flesh. In modern computing, it refers to a computer controlled by a hacker to perform malicious tasks.


SIMPLE

The movie is about a group of people surviving a zombie attack.

CONTEXTUAL

After staying up all night to finish the report, he walked into the office looking like a total zombie.

COMPLEX

The security team identified a network of zombie computers that were being used to launch a coordinated denial-of-service attack against the government's main server.

Synonyms
Origin

First attested in the 18th century. From a Bantu language. Compare Kongo nzambi (“god”), zumbi (“fetish”), and Kimbundu nzumbi (“ghost”) (see Portuguese zumbi, Sranan Tongo dyumbi), and Caribbean folklore's jumbee (“a spirit or demon”). May have come through Louisiana Creole zombi (“zombie; ghost”). See also French zombi (“zombie”). A possible origin from Spanish sombra (“shadow, phantom”) has also been suggested.

Usage

Often used metaphorically to describe a person who is extremely tired or lacks independent thought.

Idioms1 entry

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