unalive

UK/ˌʌn.əˈlaɪv/

unalive adjective: not alive; dead or inanimate.

Adjective

unalive (comparative more unalive, superlative most unalive)

Not alive; dead or inanimate.
- Near-synonym: nonlive
- John Sheldon laid down Sheilah ' s hand beside her on the bed , as if it had been a book , or something unalive, and took out of his bag near by an accessory that was almost as much a part of him as his glasses.1927, Olive Higgins Prouty, Conflict: A Novel, page 69
Synonyms:

nonlive
Lacking vivacity and liveliness; dull or sterile.
- Rebecca despises her professors because they cannot think as clearly as she can, cannot argue as well as she can, and are tired and dowdy and unalive.1929, American Association of University Women, AAUW Journal - Volumes 23-25, page 106
- The silent city asleep at our back , joyless and unalive.1936, Clement Wood, The Glory Road: An Autobiography, page 78
Lacking energy and feeling; passionless; mechanical.
- Rather be unhappy , and know it , than unalive, and not know it .1953, Sydney J. Harris, Strictly Personal, page 213
- But now these symptoms which seemed to be bad and inimical , namely , this anxiety or guilt , prove themselves to be helpful and friendly, for they intrude themselves in order to bring healing by awakening this living yet unalive person.1974, William R.Parker, Elaine St. Johus, Prayer Can Change Your Life, page 229
Lacking a fulfilling life; meaningless.
- In one rather poignant moment she reveals this predicament with her husband : if she has emasculated him throughout the years , Willie , in his own passive way , has made her feel similarly unalive: Was I ever lovable ?1966, Lois G. Gordon, Dialectic of the Beast and Monk, page 287
- And for the past six months I have been separated from my writing, and I have been nothing, or I have been walking about unalive, some indistinct shadow in a nightmare of the universe.2008, William Saroyan, William E. Justice, He Flies Through the Air with the Greatest of Ease, page 28
(often) Lacking consciousness; unresponsive, indifferent or oblivious.
- We are not unalive to the gravity of the problem of unemployment but we want co-operation here also, and we believe that , if we receive it , hundreds of young men who are now swelling the ranks of the unemployed , may achieve self-support in a happy, healthy and independent life.1930, Sir Mirza M. Ismail, Speeches - Volume 1, page 128
- The realism was largely mere recoil , by a man unalive to how beer and a ribald joke can carry the common man through bibulation ; but the hunger of the mind was a very positive thing, active in him and in many of his most remarkable characters.1933, Thomas Earle Welby, Second Impressions, page 74

Noun

unalive (plural unalives)

One who is unalive.
- Most people are the unalives the notalives, the impersons, existing in an unworld of unlove and unbeing.1967, Helen Bevington, “Speaking of Books: Hellgazers and Rejoicers”, in The New York Times Book Review, volume 72, page 2
- The very latest of Mr. Cummings's new poems are fixed in rigid attitudes of youth, which now seem to show signs of weariness, caused by the strain of a prolonged defiance against "the sweet&aged people who rule this world," against the “unhearts,” the “unminds,” the “unalives."2009, Jirí Flajšar, Zénó Vernyik, Words into Pictures: E. E. Cummings’ Art Across Borders, page 83

Verb

unalive (third-person singular simple present unalives, present participle unaliving, simple past and past participle unalived)

(transitive) To make unalive; to kill, especially oneself; to commit suicide.
- Jeffrey Epstein is thought to have unalived himself, but Tucker Carlson calls this position into question.
- He “unalives” bad guys, sometimes for free, and this gives him a sense of purpose, even in an absurd world.2017, Nicolas Michaud, Jacob Thomas May, Deadpool and Philosophy: My Common Sense Is Tingling
(intransitive) To die.
- Carl sighs, and ironically wishes to unalive out loud.2020, F. H. Fischer, The Second Daughter's Darkness, page 90

unalive meaning in Thai

unalive in Thai

online euphemism for "die": ตุย dtui

Examples of unalive in a sentence

Often her anxiety will contribute toward making the child afraid of life and attracted to that which is unalive.1964, Eric Fromm, The Heart of Man, page 55:
She was amazed that he wasn't changed , that he wasn't hurt , or perhaps utterly unalive , murdered .1988, Richard Rossner, The Whole Story, page 14:
But they are stubbornly unalive and therefore unwilting.2000, Charles Baxter, The Feast of Love, page 106:
We experience it as "unalive" (Bt, 282).2012, J. Jeremy Wisnewski, Heidegger: An Introduction, page 104:

Synonyms of unalive

nonlive

Forms of unalive

Adjective
comparative	more unalive
superlative	most unalive
Noun
plural	unalives
Verb
third-person singular present	unalives
present participle	unaliving
past participle	unalived
past	unalived

Origin of unalive

From un- + alive. Internet usage originates from circumventing social media algorithms that were believed to penalise the use of the words related to death, especially “die”, “kill”, and “suicide”. According to linguist Adam Aleksic, the word in the verb sense of “die, kill” first appeared in a 2013 episode of Ultimate Spider-Man, exploding in usage after a few viral videos in early 2021 popularized it. Since early 2022, unalive has become very widespread even outside Internet usage contexts, especially among adolescents. Aleksic argues that the word unalive has gained so much popularity because of a time-invariant tendency to refer to death by euphemism; compare the word die’s displacement of swelt, or the use of pass away.

Words formed from unalive

Words that rhyme with unalive

34 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about unalive

What does unalive mean?: Unalive means not alive; dead or inanimate.
What is unalive in Thai?: Unalive in Thai is ตุย (dtui). See Unalive meaning in Thai.
How do you use unalive in a sentence?: Often her anxiety will contribute toward making the child afraid of life and attracted to that which is unalive.
What part of speech is unalive?: Unalive can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce unalive?: Unalive is pronounced /ˌʌn.əˈlaɪv/ (UK).

Words near unalive in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: unalive (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-unalive.wav.

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