deadly
Syllables: dead·lyUK/ˈdɛdli/
deadly adjective: subject to death; mortal.
Adjective
deadly (comparative deadlier or more deadly, superlative deadliest or most deadly)
- Subject to death; mortal.
- […]he ſuffred hym ſelfe to be made mortall and dedly, that innocent & gyltles in hym ſelfe: he myght be ſlayne & deye for the gylty man.1541, Rychard [W]hitforde, [D]yuers holy inſtrucyons and teachynges very neceſſarye for the helth of mannes ſoule […] , London: [W]yllyam Myddylton, page 36
- ❧ That when the iournay / of this dedly life / My ſely ghoſte / hath finiſhed and thence[…]1545, [T]woo fruitfull and godly praiers, London: Rycharde Lante and Rycharde Bankes, page 36
- Causing death; lethal.
- But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶[…]The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window[…], and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the...1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC
- […] others search for new and deadlier gases, or for soluble poisons capable of being produced in such quantities as to destroy the vegetation of whole continents […]1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 9, in Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished [Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia...
- Aiming or willing to destroy; implacable; desperately hostile.
- deadly enemies
- […]diſmount thy tucke, be yare in thy preparation, for thy aſſaylant is quick, skilfull and deadly.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Very accurate (of aiming with a bow, firearm, etc.).
- Its deadly aim at vast distances, which condition of the mechanical power brought has made it the dread of the sepoys, who term it "the gun that kills without making any sound," contrasts strangely with the performances of Brown Bess of old, which at any range beyond a hundred yards was so...1858, “Woolwich Arsenal”, in The Living Age, volume 57, page 201
- For him the gibbet shall be built; For him the stake prepared: Him shall the scorn and wrath of men Pursue with deadly aim ; And malice, envy, spite and lies, Shall desecrate his name.1859, Iowa Instructor - Volume 1, page 110
- Very boring.
- “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers, the worn-out, passionless men, the enervated matrons of the summer capital,[…]!”1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
- “Then my father died. He left me very badly off. I had to go and live with some old aunts in Yorkshire.” She shuddered. “You will understand me when I say that it was a deadly life for a girl brought up as I had been. The narrowness, the deadly monotony of it, almost drove me mad.”1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 141
- Excellent, awesome, cool.
Adverb
deadly (comparative more deadly, superlative most deadly)
- Fatally, mortally.
- [P]erceiving himſelfe deadly wounded by a ſhot received in his body, being by his men perſwaded to come off and retire himſelfe from out the throng, anſwered, he would not now ſo neere his end, beginne to turne his face from his enemie[…]1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Our affections are tranſported beyond our ſelues”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 7
- In a way which suggests death.
- Her face suddenly became deadly white.
- Extremely, incredibly.
- Though deadly weary, till ſpectators do / At once part and call them good boys too[…]1669, Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, “Tryphon, A Tragedy”, in Two New Tragedies: The Black Prince, and Tryphon […] , page iv
- John had got an impreſſion that Lewis was ſo deadly cunning a man, that he was afraid to venture himſelf alone with him.1750 [1712], John Arbuthnot, “The Hiſtory of John Bull (chapter XVIII)”, in The Hiſtory of John Bull and Poems on ſeveral Occaſions […] , page 113
deadly meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
deadly in Hindi
- deadly, fatal
- जानलेवा jānlevā
- deadly, terrible, beastly
- खलियाना khaliyānā
deadly in Urdu
- جان لیوا, مہلک, قاتل, تباہ کن
deadly in Bengali
- deadly, fatal
- তীব্র tibro
deadly in Malayalam
- lethal, fatal, mortal
- മാരകമായ, മരണഹേതുകമായ, മരണകരമായ, പ്രാണഹരം, മരണകാരണമാകാവുന്ന, ഹിംസാത്മകമായ
- irreconcilable, mortal, implacable
- പരമശത്രുതയുള്ള, തീരാത്തവിരോധമുള്ള, ഇണങ്ങാത്ത, യോജിപ്പിക്കാൻ കഴിയാത്ത, കൊടും പകയുള്ള, പ്രീണിപ്പിക്കാനാവാത്ത
- intense, great, marked
- തീവ്രമായ, തീക്ഷ്ണമായ, വളരെ വലിയ, കറു, കടുത്ത, ഉഗ്രമായ
- deathly, ghostly, ashen
- ജീവച്ഛവമായ, ചത്തതുപോലെയുള്ള, മരിച്ചതു പോലുള്ള, മൃതതുല്യമായ, ചോരമയമില്ലാത്ത, പ്രേതലക്ഷണമുള്ള
More languagesFewer languages
- deadly in Kannada
- ಮಾರಕ, ಪ್ರಾಣಾಂತಕ, ವಿನಾಶಕ, ಹಾನಿಕರ
- deadly in Gujarati
- કાતિલ kātil
- deadly in Arabic
- مُمِيت mumīt
Examples of deadly in a sentence
- Even man's deadly life / Can be there, by God's leave.1845, Phillip James Bailey, Festus: A Poem, Boston: Benjamin B. Mussey, page 270:
- The Elf turned and with deadly accuracy shot an arrow where his nose pointed him.2006, Gene Del Vecchio, The Sword of Anton, page 51:
- And the woman was blessed with deadly accuracy.2015, Melody Anne, Her Unexpected Hero, page 288:
- Now, at school, I was forced to sit in classes, to take notes and exams, to use textbooks that were flat, impersonal, deadly.2001, Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood:
Forms of deadly
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | deadlier |
| comparative | more deadly |
| superlative | deadliest |
| superlative | most deadly |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more deadly |
| superlative | most deadly |
Origin of deadly
From Middle English dedly, dedlych, dedlich, from Old English dēadlīċ (adjective), from Proto-West Germanic *dauþalīk, from Proto-Germanic *dauþalīkaz (“deadly”, literally “deathly”). By surface analysis, dead + -ly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian dodelk (“deadly”), West Frisian deadlik (“deadly”), Dutch dodelijk (“deadly”), German tödlich (“deadly”), Swedish dödlig (“deadly, fatal, mortal”), Icelandic dauðlegur (“mortal”). The adverb is from Middle English dedliche, from Old English dēadlīċe (adverb), from the adjective.
Words formed from deadly
Phrases with deadly
Words that rhyme with deadly
Questions about deadly
- What does deadly mean?
- Deadly means subject to death; mortal.
- What is deadly in Hindi?
- Deadly in Hindi is जानलेवा (jānlevā), खलियाना (khaliyānā). See Deadly meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use deadly in a sentence?
- Even man's deadly life / Can be there, by God's leave.
- What part of speech is deadly?
- Deadly can be an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce deadly?
- Deadly is pronounced /ˈdɛdli/ (UK).
Words near deadly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: deadly (page history and authors); खलियाना (Hindi) (page history and authors); deadly (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); তীব্র (Bengali) (page history and authors); deadly (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); deadly (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); કાતિલ (Gujarati) (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-us-deadly.ogg.
Cite this entry: “deadly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deadly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.