Word.ws English Dictionary

dropping dead

dropping dead is the present participle and gerund of drop dead.

Meaning of drop dead

Verb

drop dead (third-person singular simple present drops dead, present participle dropping dead, simple past and past participle dropped dead)

  1. (intransitive) To die suddenly.
    • Stuff your eyes with wonder […]live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.1953, Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
  2. (figuratively, intransitive) To be appalled or mortified.
    • `My parents would drop dead if they knew,' she said.1965, James Holledge, What Makes a Call Girl?, London: Horwitz Publications, page 90

See all 3 meanings of drop dead

Questions about dropping dead

What is dropping dead the present participle and gerund of?
Dropping dead is the present participle and gerund of drop dead.

Words near dropping dead in the dictionary

  1. dropping astern
  2. dropping away
  3. dropping back
  4. dropping behind
  5. dropping by
  6. dropping dead
  7. dropping dimes
  8. dropping down
  9. dropping fire
  10. dropping fires
  11. dropping in

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dropping dead (page history and authors); drop dead (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:

Cite this entry: “dropping dead.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dropping_dead. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.