# deader

Pronunciation: say "DED-er" US /ˈdɛdɚ/, AUS /ˈdɛdə/; UK say "DED-uh" /ˈdɛdə/

## Adjective

1. Comparative of dead. *(colloquial)* — comparative form of dead: more dead; or at least more evidently dead.
   - Simple: Comparative of dead. Used to say one thing seems more dead or more lifeless than another.
   - _Once the headliner canceled, the whole festival felt deader than a ghost town._
   - _His career looked deader than ever after the scandal broke._

## Noun

2. A person who is deceased, or who will shortly become so. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A person who has died, or who will die very soon.
   - _Three deaders were laid out in the morgue by the time the sun came up._
   - _Step onto that ledge in this wind and you're a deader, the guide said flatly._

## Origin

Formed from "dead" combined with the suffix "-er," either as a comparative ending ("more dead") or as an occupational suffix naming a person.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/deader (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).