Slang dictionary
unalive
[ uhn-uh-lahyv ]
What does unalive mean?
Unalive is a slang term used on social media as a replacement for the verb kill or other death-related terms, often in the context of suicide. Unalive is typically used as a way of circumventing social media platform rules that prohibit, remove, censor, or demonetize content that explicitly mentions killing or suicide.
For example, it may be used in phrases like unalive myself or unalive attempt.
The term is used both seriously (such as in discussion of suicide prevention and awareness) and in nonserious posts and memes (such as saying My mom is going to unalive me if I don’t clean my room).
Note: If you’ve reached this page because you are having thoughts about harming yourself, please know that you matter, and there is help available.
You can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (or by dialing 988 in some areas), or chat with someone online, or text 741741 to talk to a counselor on the Crisis Text Line.
Where does unalive come from?
Use of the word unalive to mean “unfeeling” or “lacking vitality” predates its slang use, but this earlier sense of the word is now very rarely used.
In unalive, the prefix un-, meaning “not,” serves its usual negating function. However, as a slang term, unalive is most commonly used to mean things other than “dead” (though it can also be used this way).
The use of unalive as a euphemistic slang term meaning “to kill” is thought to have been popularized by a 2013 episode of the animated show Ultimate Spider-Man, in which the character Deadpool says he is going to “unalive” a villain as part of a joke involving the avoidance of the word kill.
The social media use of unalive in the context of suicide increased in early 2022 on TikTok. The emergence of this use is thought to be related to TikTok policies prohibiting content related to self-harm, including removal of the hashtag #suicide as well as removal of content that uses the word suicide.
TikTok users began using unalive as a way to circumvent these restrictions, including in both in serious and nonserious posts. Variations of the term have also been used, including as hashtags. Such use has since spread to other social media sites.
Examples of unalive
Who uses unalive?
Unalive is most commonly used by younger social media users as a way of avoiding platform restrictions around use of terms related to killing and suicide. It is used in both serious and nonserious ways.
what doesn't unalive you makes you stronger
— Zhu (@boxrZhu) June 27, 2022
I’m beginning to suspect that the character the duffers are going to unalive this weekend is…all of us.
— Ashlee Latimer (@ALNL) July 1, 2022
I got to remind myself that despite this ableist society telling me to unalive. That my life has value and I deserve to be here.
— 🌸Bibi🌸♿ (@bibicosplays) July 5, 2022
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of unalive like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of unalive that will help our users expand their word mastery.