Word.ws English Dictionary

dead man's switch

dead man's switch noun: a switch that ensures a fail-safe condition by automatically triggering an action (for instance, to stop a machine or vehicle) if a specified input from the operator is not made or is altered.

dead man's switch: a switch that ensures a fail-safe condition by automatically triggering an action (for instance, to...
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Noun

dead man's switch (plural dead man's switches)

  1. A switch that ensures a fail-safe condition by automatically triggering an action (for instance, to stop a machine or vehicle) if a specified input from the operator is not made or is altered.
    • Holonyms: device, machine
    • This seat is equipped with a dead man's switch. As the theory goes, "if the driver stops sitting, the machine is quitting."

Forms of dead man's switch

pluraldead man's switches

Questions about dead man's switch

What does dead man's switch mean?
Dead man's switch means a switch that ensures a fail-safe condition by automatically triggering an action (for instance, to stop a machine or vehicle) if a specified input from the operator is not made or is altered.
What part of speech is dead man's switch?
Dead man's switch is a noun.
What is the plural of dead man's switch?
The plural of dead man's switch is dead man's switches.

Words near dead man's switch in the dictionary

  1. dead man's hand
  2. dead man's handle
  3. dead man's handles
  4. dead man's penny
  5. dead man's rope
  6. dead man's switch
  7. dead man's switches
  8. dead march
  9. dead marches
  10. dead marine
  11. dead marines

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dead man's switch (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.

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Cite this entry: “dead man's switch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dead_man%27s_switch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.