Dictionary

dead man walking en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

A phrase traditionally used in U.S. prisons to announce a condemned prisoner being walked to the place of execution. Its use has expanded as a euphemism for anyone facing an impending and unavoidable loss.

Meanings

1. A condemned prisoner walking to a death chamber or other place of execution.
   • It was Percy Wetmore who ushered Coffey onto the block, with the supposedly traditional cry of “Dead man walking! Dead man walking here!” 1996, Stephen King, The Green Mile:
2. (figuratively) Someone who is soon to die.
   • Doctors and scientists considered him a dead man walking. Having calculated that the exposure level was actually hundreds of times the fatal threshold, doctors believed Bugorski would eventually experience total nervous system collapse. 2026 May 6, Nicholas Muhoro, “Anatoli Bugorski Survived a 1978 Proton Beam to the Head and Kept Working Like Nothing Happened”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 11 May 2026:
   • "So, arrest me," Cummings said. "The fuck do I care? I'm a dead man walking." 2010, Peter Corris, Torn Apart, Allen and Unwin, page 231:
3. (figuratively) Someone who is about to face an unavoidable loss (though the person may not realize it yet).
4. (slang) A multivortex tornado typically appearing in the form of a human figure walking.

Forms

Deriveds

dead woman walking · dead person walking

Relateds

lame duck