total zombie
1
8.2
- noun
- /ˈtoʊtəl ˈzɑːm.bi/
- Offensive
:
zombi
- After the all-nighter, he felt like a total zombie.
Examples
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He was a total zombie during the meeting and didn't hear a word that was said.
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If I don't get my morning coffee, I'm a total zombie for hours.
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After staying up all night to finish her project, she felt like a total zombie at work.
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She looked like a total zombie during the meeting.
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After staying up all night studying, he felt like a total zombie during the exam.
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The long meeting left me a total zombie, unable to concentrate on anything else.
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She was a total zombie after working a 12-hour shift with barely any breaks.
Synonyms
140
4.9
A person who moves and acts without energy or interest
A person who looks at their phone and ignores people and things around them
A person who looks at their phone and ignores their surroundings while walking
A person who looks almost dead from being very tired
Antonyms
How Alert
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a person who is completely unresponsive or disengaged' is directly compositional: 'total' (complete/utter) simply intensifies 'zombie' (an apathetic/automaton-like person). This intensifier + metaphor structure is predictable and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent words should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Total zombie comes from the image of a zombie in movies: a person with blank eyes who moves slowly and does not respond. That's why it means 'completely unresponsive or mentally absent' when someone is very tired or not paying attention.