Word
zombie
Phoneticszom·bie, stress on the first syllable
US/ˈzɑmbi/
UK/zˈɒmbi/
Definitions
01undead creature
B1 · Intermediate Countable noun
n. a dead person who has been brought back to life, usually in horror movies or stories.
n. a reanimated corpse, typically depicted in fiction as lacking a soul or independent will and often driven by a hunger for human flesh.
“In the movie, the survivors had to hide in a shopping mall to escape the zombies.”
“Modern pop culture has transformed the zombie from a figure of folklore into a versatile metaphor for societal collapse and viral contagion.”
02exhausted person
B2 · Upper Intermediate Countable noun Informal
n. someone who is so tired or bored that they move and think very slowly.
n. a person who appears to be in a daze or state of extreme mental exhaustion, often characterized by a lack of responsiveness.
“I was such a zombie this morning because I only got three hours of sleep.”
“After forty-eight hours of continuous coding, the developers were walking around the office like zombies, barely able to hold a conversation.”
Synonyms
03infected computer
C1 · Advanced Countable noun Computing Technical
n. a computer that has been taken over by a virus so it can be used for cyber attacks without the owner knowing.
n. a computer connected to the internet that has been compromised by a hacker, computer virus, or trojan horse and can be used to perform malicious tasks.
“The hacker used thousands of zombie computers to crash the bank's website.”
“The security firm identified a massive botnet consisting of over fifty thousand zombie machines used to coordinate a distributed denial-of-service attack.”
Synonyms
04terminated process
C2 · Proficiency Countable noun Computing Technical
n. a computer program that has finished but is still showing up in the system's list of active tasks.
n. a process that has completed execution but still has an entry in the process table, usually because its parent process has not yet read its exit status.
“You need to restart the server to clear out those zombie processes.”
“The system administrator noticed several zombie processes lingering in the background, indicating a bug in the parent application's signal handling.”
Synonyms
05philosophical construct
C2 · Proficiency Countable noun Academic · Formal
n. an imaginary person who acts like a human but has no internal feelings or consciousness.
n. a hypothetical being that is physically identical to a human but lacks conscious experience or qualia.
“Philosophers use the idea of a zombie to talk about how the mind works.”
“The 'philosophical zombie' argument is frequently used to challenge physicalist theories of consciousness by suggesting that physical facts do not necessarily entail subjective experience.”
Synonyms
Real-World Examples
“When the snow melted in early May, these smouldering fires, often called "zombie" fires, came to life again and began to feed on dry trees and brush.” “This represents a form of "zombie politics," and the challenge with zombies is that, being effectively lifeless, they are exceedingly difficult to eliminate.” “The hoax prompted several lighthearted residents in Great Falls to contact authorities, asking if firearms would be a sufficient defense against zombie hordes.” “LONDON (Reuters) - Decades of falling interest rates have led to a sharp increase in the number of "zombie" firms, a report for the Bank for International Settlements said, potentially threatening economic growth and preventing interest rates from rising.” Etymology
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Related words
Idioms
01. zombie out
The word in film
Poster shown under fair use for identification and commentary.
Zombie · 1979 · Horror
- Directed by:
- Lucio Fulci
- Starring:
- Richard Johnson, Al Cliver, Ian McCulloch
Lucio Fulci's 1979 Italian horror film gives the word its usual meaning: a dead person brought back to life. The creatures roam a Caribbean island and hunt the living.
In Literature
Zombie · 1995-01-01 · Horror fiction
- Author:
- Joyce Carol Oates
Inspired in part by the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, Joyce Carol Oates's 1995 novel follows a killer who tries to turn a man into a zombie: a person who obeys without feelings of his own. In the book, the word means a human who has lost his inner life.
In Music
Cover shown under fair use for identification and commentary.
Zombie · 1994 · Alternative rock
- Artist:
- The Cranberries
- Album:
- No Need to Argue
The Cranberries' 1994 protest song turns the word into a metaphor for people who have become cold and mindless, almost like the undead. It protests the violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Domains
- Exam level
- CambridgeCambridgeCambridge English QualificationsThe exam suite from Cambridge University Press & Assessment, from A1 Movers up to C2 Proficiency. The benchmark names double as CEFR labels.B1 PreliminaryIELTSIELTSInternational English Language Testing SystemThe 0–9 band test co-owned by the British Council, IDP, and Cambridge. Used for university entry, work, and migration.4.0–5.0TOEFL iBTTOEFL iBTTest of English as a Foreign Language, Internet-Based TestETS's academic English test, the standard route for US university admissions. Scored 0–120, with a 1–6 scale since 2026.1–6 scale: 3.0–3.544–71TOEICTOEICTest of English for International CommunicationETS's workplace English test, big in Japan and Korea. Listening & Reading scores 10–990 and tops out at C1.550–784
- Frequency
- Frequent
- Level
- B1 · Intermediate
- Updated
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