lifeless

[ lahyf-lis ]

adjective

1. not endowed with life; having no life; inanimate:

   lifeless matter.

   Synonyms: inorganic

   Antonyms: living

2. destitute of living things:

   a lifeless planet.

3. deprived of life; dead:

   a battlefield strewn with lifeless bodies.

   Synonyms: defunct

   Antonyms: living

4. without animation, liveliness, or spirit; dull; colorless; torpid:

   a lifeless performance of a play.

   Synonyms: spiritless, sluggish, passive, inert, inactive

   Antonyms: lively

5. insensible, as a person who has fainted.

lifeless

/ ˈlaɪflɪs /

adjective

1. without life; inanimate; dead
2. not sustaining living organisms
3. having no vitality or animation
4. unconscious

Derived Forms

• ˈlifelessness, noun
• ˈlifelessly, adverb

Other Words From

• lifeless·ly adverb
• lifeless·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of lifeless¹

before 1000; Middle English lifles, Old English līflēas. See life, -less

Synonym Study

See dead.

Example Sentences

He said Mr Stockton called 999 shortly after he was left alone with Charlie in a "trusted position of responsibility" on the morning of 12 January, to say the boy had become "lifeless and floppy".

From BBC

Some houses, seemingly scattered at random, were reduced to rubble with only a lifeless moonscape left behind.

From Los Angeles Times

It looks even bleaker for the Dallas Cowboys, who looked lifeless in attack without injured quarterback Dak Prescott as they were demolished 34-6 by the Philadelphia Eagles.

From BBC

Officers found the victim’s lifeless body and launched an investigation, quickly identifying her boyfriend Aldrich as a suspect and tracking him down in Glendale, according to the Costa Mesa Police Department.

From Los Angeles Times

Inside a red paper bag, he found the lifeless body of a baby boy wrapped in a pink and blue blanket.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• drab
• lackluster
• lethargic
• listless
• passive
• sluggish
• static
• stiff