living dead
5
8.6
- noun
- /ˈlɪvɪŋ dɛd/
- Literature
:
muertos vivientes
- As the sun set, the living dead began to emerge from their graves, searching for their next victim.
Examples
-
They constitute a separate world of the living dead.
Academic text (1991) -
Otto could not think clearly enough to walk inside the theater and grin among the other living dead men.
Fiction book (1991) -
- He was one of the living dead.
-
It's the living dead come to take us all to hell.
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Everyone else was living dead.
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I am the living dead.
-
You have seen the living dead.
-
And tonight, she walks as one of the living dead.
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The living dead amongst us.
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Vampires are the living dead.
Synonyms
191
5.0
A dead body brought back to life by magic, often in stories
26
7.6
A creature that died but comes back to life like a zombie or vampire
A dead body brought back to life by magic that walks and attacks people
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines two antonyms ('living' + 'dead') producing a paradoxical but partially derivable meaning: a corpse that nonetheless exhibits life. A B1 learner who knows the words can probably infer a sense of 'dead-but-still-alive' (reanimated/undead), but the supernatural/genre-specific nuance (zombies, vampires) and conventionalized usage make it not fully transparently compositional.
Etymology
The phrase living dead may come from old stories about bodies that were dead but brought back by magic or a curse, so they moved and looked as if they were still alive. The odd image of living and dead helps explain the meaning 'a dead body that seems alive', like a zombie or vampire.