Dictionary

deadass en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From dead + -ass (“used to intensify an adjective”). Some senses from an ellipsis of dead-ass serious, from dead serious + -ass. Originated in New York City, and popularized around the late 1990s–2000s.

Meanings

1. (of a place) Having very little activity; dead.
   • Yeah, beats this deadass place anyway. I'll go. 2015, Liston Pope, Christmas Year Zero: Epic of Wall Street and the Economic Life of Man, New York, N.Y.: Mantis Press, →ISBN, page 341:
   • I could tell what you two had right off the bat. It was the same with me and my Rosario. That's what keeps me goin in this deadass joint, because there's no way she don't show someday and when that day comes the round man hauls some vino outta one of them shrouds he uses as filin cabinets or you're gonna see him walkin around with a brand new face. 1981, Paul Sann, Trial in the Upper Room: A Heavenly Novel, New York, N.Y.: Crown Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 72:
   • On my way back to town I get to thinking about what Sandee said about Kirby: 'Fix the bastard'. Hmm...maybe we should. After all, what else is there to do on a Friday night in our deadass town? 2000, Greg Benjamin, Landed, London: Quartet Books, →ISBN, page 45:
2. Genuine; real. Used as a negative intensifier.
   • Anybody'd come along an' spied you deadass drunk on the plain woulda took yer hair, yer ponies, an' yer stash. 2013, Bill Blinn, Sons of Slavery, Colorado Springs, C.O.: Grit West Publishing, →ISBN, page 513:
   • He bellowed at us, yelling that he was fucked if he was going to let a group of dead-ass wankers spoil his time off. 1989, Christian Jennings, Mouthful of Rocks: Through Africa and Corsica in the French Foreign Legion, London: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 46:
   • "Mad Dog" Maurice Vachon, one of the awa's top stars for years, wasn't what you would call a great worker. He was as unorthodox as hell, but his interviews were such a deadass shoot about how mean he was, how ferocious he was and how he was going to tear you limb from limb that no one watching his promos doubted him. 2006, Bill Watts, The Cowboy and the Cross: The Bill Watts Story: Rebellion, Wrestling and Redemption, Toronto. O.N.: ECW Press, →ISBN, page 199:
3. Dead serious.
   • this look is still her best outfit she's ever worn and i'm being deadass 2023 May 15, @ev3rhaze, Twitter, archived from the original on 23 Jul 2023:
   • You need to quit talking about my mama. I'm deadass.
   • "Oh yeah, Dior. Tell ya' boss if he like his life then he better keep his distance from you. Deadass," He said from the bathroom and my eyes widened. 2017, Amber Shanel, He Was the Savage for Me, Columbus, G.A.: Talehia Presents, →ISBN, page 116:
   • Eilish talks like an Instagram caption come to life — everything is "fire" or "trash," bro, and she is always "deadass." 2019 March 28, Joe Coscarelli, “Billie Eilish Is Not Your Typical 17-Year-Old Pop Star. Get Used to Her.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 May 2023:

Forms

deadass en · ADV

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From dead + -ass (“used to intensify an adjective”). Some senses from an ellipsis of dead-ass serious, from dead serious + -ass. Originated in New York City, and popularized around the late 1990s–2000s.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Directly; dead on.
   • As he started inside, thinking only of fresh water and bed, Frenchy said, "Hurry back and I'll help you fix the baits." / "We're not through?" / "Oh, man, Joe keeps his pots at work, not deadass on deck." 1979, William McCloskey, Highliners, Guilford, C.T.: Lyons Press, published 2000, →ISBN, page 257:
   • I slapped the Mexican on the helmet— that was the signal to fire—and whoosh! that 106 round hit dead ass on top of the gooks. Whooo, the first time! The other guys scrambled up out of that trench and jumped all over us. 1990, James R. Wilson, Landing Zones, Durham, N.C.; London: Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 197:
   • "Sometimes," he observed seriously, "you can't tell truth when it's staring you deadass in the face. But if it's truth, that's it, that's a fact, you know it's truth, you can't hide from it, you pull that shit and it'll get you every time 'cause truth clicks with this way deep." 1991, Jacquelyn Holt Park, A Stone Gone Mad, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, pages 140–141:
2. (not-comparable) Really; seriously; actually.
   • Given Embiid's history of trolling and quotable moments, the internet interpreted Embiid's comments as a joke. But the big man later reaffirmed his intentions on The Ringer NBA Show with Kevin O'Connor. "Yeah, deadass. I'm really serious," Embiid said. "I feel like I can do anything on a basketball court." 2018 January 11, Mike O'Connor, “Sixers Set of the Week: A brief history of Joel Embiid playing point guard”, in The Athletic, archived from the original on 27 Sep 2021:
   • i will deadass take my own soap to somebody house😂 2023 July 21, @fineassnayyyy, Twitter, archived from the original on 23 Jul 2023:
   • I was deadass starving.
   • "Im positively deadass tired,' she says, rushing over to us. "Babies, there just aint no one at the 1-2-3—someone's been spreading rumors that theres so much junk being sold there that the cops are gonna knock it over any day!" 1963, John Rechy, City of Night, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 142:

Forms

deadass en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From dead + -ass (“used to intensify an adjective”). Some senses from an ellipsis of dead-ass serious, from dead serious + -ass. Originated in New York City, and popularized around the late 1990s–2000s.

Meanings

1. (US, slang) A lazy or unenergetic person.
   • […] us women know which man has got the spring and who and which is the unfortunate dead ass […] 1967, Norman Mailer, Why Are We in Vietnam?, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, page 18:
   • He's pretty smart in school, like Rodney Lippett, except Rodney's such a deadass. 1977, Don Bredes, Hard Feelings, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum, →ISBN, page 341:
   • This angered him at first, and more than once he had uttered such things to himself as "sore loser," "just plain jealous," or "too bad you've got a deadass at home yourself." 1984, Dolores Hughes, Bitter Dreams, New York, N.Y.: Leisure Books, →ISBN, page 125:
   • He comes onto the ward with his tight reddish-blond curls tumbling out from under his cap, cracking jokes and trying to get some action going among these deadasses in the loony bin. 1968, Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →OCLC, page 50:

Forms

Relateds

are we deadass · deadassed