dead man walking

noun

plural dead men walking

1

a

: an incarcerated person awaiting execution on death row

Sister Helen Prejean has kept her promise to another dead man walking. In 1993, she wrote a searing indictment of the death penalty based on her friendship with a death-row inmate. Titled Dead Man Walking, it was turned into a popular movie of the same title.

—Anne Grant

… we have got a dead man walking. We are getting ready for an execution here in Louisiana just after midnight tonight.

—[radio host] Scott 'Scoot' Paisant, on WEZB

b

: someone who has been threatened with murder or death

Crime boss Conal Hall has been warned he is a "dead man walking" over huge six-figure debts to Dublin drugs gangs.

—Belfast Telegraph Online

2

: someone or something with no viable future or that is sure to fail

Europeans have to kind of assume that NATO is kind of a dead man walking as an alliance.

—Dalibor Rohac

… the ambitious legislative roadmap laid out by the administration is effectively a "dead man walking" if Republicans fail to hold their ground in Congress.

—Leslie Bolden

especially : a person whose career is ruined or whose dismissal is imminent

… the Portuguese coach was a dead man walking once he took on his bosses …

—Chris Wheeler

3

: someone who will soon face negative consequences for a previous choice or action

It's either I didn't notice her new hair … or I forgot her birthday. Either way, I'm a dead man walking.

—@Inn_d3nial, on X, formerly Twitter

Word History

First Known Use

1967, in the meaning defined at sense 1b