dead as a doornail

dead as a door·nail

D d

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [ded az ey dawr-neyl, dohr-]
- /dɛd æz eɪ ˈdɔrˌneɪl, ˈdoʊr-/
- /ded əz ə ˈdɔː.neɪl/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [ded az ey dawr-neyl, dohr-]
- /dɛd æz eɪ ˈdɔrˌneɪl, ˈdoʊr-/

Definitions of dead as a doornail words

noun dead as a doornail completely dead 3
noun dead as a doornail dead beyond a doubt 3
noun dead as a doornail a large-headed nail formerly used for strengthening or ornamenting doors. 1
idioms dead as a doornail dead as a doornail, stone-dead: After midnight, the town is dead as a doornail. 1
adjective dead as a doornail (simile) Unquestionably dead. Used for both inanimate objects and once living beings. 0

See all 5 definitions of dead as a doornail

Information block about the term

Origin of dead as a doornail

First appearance:

before 1300

One of the 15% oldest English words

First recorded in 1300-50, doornail is from the Middle English word dornail. See door, nail

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Dead as a doornail

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Dead as a doornail

dead as a doornail popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 68% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

dead as a doornail usage trend in Literature

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