deadass

English

Alternative forms

• dead ass, dead-ass

Etymology

From dead +‎ -ass (“used to intensify an adjective”). Apparently originating in New York and popularized around the late 1990s–2000s.

Adjective

deadass (comparative more deadass, superlative most deadass)

1. (US, slang) Of a place: having very little activity; dead.
   • 1981, Paul Sann, Trial in the Upper Room: A Heavenly Novel, New York, N.Y.: Crown Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 72:

     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.

   • 2000, Greg Benjamin, Landed, London: Quartet Books, →ISBN, page 45:

     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?

   • 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:

     Yeah, beats this deadass place anyway. I'll go.

2. (US, slang) Genuine, real. (used as a negative intensifier)
   • 1989, Christian Jennings, Mouthful of Rocks: Through Africa and Corsica in the French Foreign Legion, London: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 46:

     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.

   • 2006, Bill Watts, The Cowboy and the Cross: The Bill Watts Story: Rebellion, Wrestling and Redemption, Toronto. O.N.: ECW Press, →ISBN, page 199:

     "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.

   • 2013, Bill Blinn, Sons of Slavery, Colorado Springs, C.O.: Grit West Publishing, →ISBN, page 513:

     Anybody'd come along an' spied you deadass drunk on the plain woulda took yer hair, yer ponies, an' yer stash.

3. (US, slang) Dead serious.

   You need to quit talking about my mama. I'm deadass.

   • 2017, Amber Shanel, He Was the Savage for Me, Columbus, G.A.: Talehia Presents, →ISBN, page 116:

     "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.

   • 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^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-05:

     Eilish talks like an Instagram caption come to life — everything is "fire" or "trash," bro, and she is always "deadass."

   • 2023 May 15, @ev3rhaze, Twitter‎^[2], archived from the original on 23 July 2023:

     this look is still her best outfit she's ever worn and i'm being deadass

Adverb

deadass (not comparable)

1. (US, slang) Directly, dead on.
   • 1979, William McCloskey, Highliners, Guilford, C.T.: Lyons Press, published 2000, →ISBN, page 257:

     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."

   • 1990, James R. Wilson, Landing Zones, Durham, N.C., London: Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 197:

     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.

   • 1991, Jacquelyn Holt Park, A Stone Gone Mad, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, pages 140–141:

     "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."

2. (US, slang) Really, seriously, actually.

   I was deadass starving.

   • 1963, John Rechy, City of Night, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 142:

     "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!"

   • 2018 January 11, Mike O'Connor, “Sixers Set of the Week: A brief history of Joel Embiid playing point guard”, in The Athletic‎^[3], archived from the original on 2021-09-27:

     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."

   • 2023 July 21, @fineassnayyyy, Twitter‎^[4], archived from the original on 23 July 2023:

     i will deadass take my own soap to somebody house😂

Noun

deadass (plural deadasses)

1. (US, slang) A lazy or unenergetic person.
   • 1967, Norman Mailer, Why Are We in Vietnam?, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, page 18:

     […] us women know which man has got the spring and who and which is the unfortunate dead ass […]

   • 1968, Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, New York, N.Y.: Farrar Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 50:

     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.

   • 1977, Don Bredes, Hard Feelings, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum, →ISBN, page 341:

     He's pretty smart in school, like Rodney Lippett, except Rodney's such a deadass.

   • 1984, Dolores Hughes, Bitter Dreams, New York, N.Y.: Leisure Books, →ISBN, page 125:

     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."

See also

• deadassed

 

References

• Jonathon Green (2024) “dead ass n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang
• Jonathon Green (2024) “dead-ass adj.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang
• Jonathon Green (2024) “dead-ass adv.²”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang
• “deadass”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “deadass”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “deadass”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Further reading

• “deadass”, in Urban Dictionary, launched 1999.