Word.ws English Dictionary

dead as a doorknob

dead as a doorknob adjective: entirely, unquestionably or certainly dead.

Adjective

dead as a doorknob

  1. (simile) Entirely, unquestionably or certainly dead.
    • I tried the flashlight, but the battery was as dead as a doorknob.
    • I found the mouse who lived in our wall, lying on his back with his feet in the air—as dead as a doorknob.

dead as a doorknob meaning in Bengali

dead as a doorknob in Bengali

পুরোপুরি, নিঃসন্দেহে, নিশ্চিতভাবে মৃত

Origin of dead as a doorknob

Possibly from a misinterpretation or misunderstanding of the expression dead as a doornail. See usage notes below.

Questions about dead as a doorknob

What does dead as a doorknob mean?
Dead as a doorknob means entirely, unquestionably or certainly dead.
What is dead as a doorknob in Bengali?
Dead as a doorknob in Bengali is পুরোপুরি, নিঃসন্দেহে, নিশ্চিতভাবে মৃত. See Dead as a doorknob meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is dead as a doorknob?
Dead as a doorknob is an adjective.

Words near dead as a doorknob in the dictionary

  1. dead and gone
  2. dead angle
  3. dead angles
  4. dead arm syndrome
  5. dead as a dodo
  6. dead as a doorknob
  7. dead as a doornail
  8. dead as a herring
  9. dead as a kipper
  10. dead as a mackerel
  11. dead as ditch-water

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dead as a doorknob (page history and authors); dead as a doorknob (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-dead as a doorknob.ogg.

Cite this entry: “dead as a doorknob.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dead_as_a_doorknob. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.