lifelessly
adverb
lifelessness
noun
Synonyms
Examples of lifeless in a Sentence
a cold and lifeless landscape
The book's plot was lifeless and predictable.
Recent Examples on the Web
The photos, along with personal accounts describing young children’s lifeless bodies, echo descriptions provided 11 years earlier by witnesses at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
—
Arelis R. Hernández, Washington Post, 15 Nov. 2023
Ordinarily, nothing seems more lifeless than a puppet without a puppeteer.
—Laura Collins-Hughes, New York Times, 8 Nov. 2023
In years past, this would have led to a somewhat lifeless ceremony.
—Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 4 Nov. 2023
Most scientists think that Mars is lifeless now—although a few argue that life could be sheltering underground—but no one can say for sure whether the Red Planet could have also been a teeming one.
—Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Oct. 2023
Such collaborations tend to be respectful, reasonably successful, and positively reviewed, but there often is, nonetheless, something unnervingly lifeless about them.
—Kristen Roupenian, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023
But that’s no smoking gun: Carbon and methane could just as well be produced by a lifeless, volcanically active world.
—WIRED, 2 Oct. 2023
The camera pans wildly, showing the chilling and frantic first-person view of a first responder searching for survivors, any survivor among a sea of lifeless, bloodied bodies after Hamas' brutal attack last month on the Supernova music festival in the Negev desert in southern Israel.
—Becky Perlow, ABC News, 8 Nov. 2023
The death by suicide of a Florida woman triggered a wellness check on her 5-year-old twins, whose lifeless bodies were discovered Friday at home in an apparent homicide.
—Dennis Romero, NBC News, 21 Oct. 2023
See More
Arelis R. Hernández, Washington Post, 15 Nov. 2023
Ordinarily, nothing seems more lifeless than a puppet without a puppeteer.
—Laura Collins-Hughes, New York Times, 8 Nov. 2023
In years past, this would have led to a somewhat lifeless ceremony.
—Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 4 Nov. 2023
Most scientists think that Mars is lifeless now—although a few argue that life could be sheltering underground—but no one can say for sure whether the Red Planet could have also been a teeming one.
—Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Oct. 2023
Such collaborations tend to be respectful, reasonably successful, and positively reviewed, but there often is, nonetheless, something unnervingly lifeless about them.
—Kristen Roupenian, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023
But that’s no smoking gun: Carbon and methane could just as well be produced by a lifeless, volcanically active world.
—WIRED, 2 Oct. 2023
The camera pans wildly, showing the chilling and frantic first-person view of a first responder searching for survivors, any survivor among a sea of lifeless, bloodied bodies after Hamas' brutal attack last month on the Supernova music festival in the Negev desert in southern Israel.
—Becky Perlow, ABC News, 8 Nov. 2023
The death by suicide of a Florida woman triggered a wellness check on her 5-year-old twins, whose lifeless bodies were discovered Friday at home in an apparent homicide.
—Dennis Romero, NBC News, 21 Oct. 2023
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lifeless.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of lifeless was
before the 12th century
Dictionary Entries Near lifeless
Cite this Entry
“Lifeless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lifeless. Accessed 1 Dec. 2023.
Copy Citation
Kids Definition
More from Merriam-Webster on lifeless
Nglish: Translation of lifeless for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of lifeless for Arabic Speakers
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share