undead

adjective

un·​dead ˌən-ˈded 

: not dead : returned from or as if from death

It may be someone I don't want to see—from the undead past, an ex-lover, my ex-best friend.

—Lynne Tillman

especially, in stories about vampires and zombies : reanimated after death by supernatural means

undead creatures

We would all recognize a vampire if we saw one, that 'undead' soul who rises from the grave to gorge himself upon the blood of the living, thereby creating further generations of vampires.

—Roy Porter

—often used as a collective noun

Zombies apparently never brush. Witness the rotten chompers flashed by lumbering hordes of hungry undead in this dexterous thriller …

—People

—used especially as the undead

A brainy young philosophy graduate student … gets sucked into the nightmare world of the undead in Abel Ferrara's black-and-white indie vampire tale.

—Entertainment Weekly

Examples of undead in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

As older narrators pass on, the undead host will only grow. —Adam Verner september 3, Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2025

The trailer showcases tons of undead violence, dismembered limbs and the official Marvel debut of Blade Knight, a Moon Knight and Blade variant who slices up an undead Ghost from the Thunderbolts in a flashy display of swordsmanship. —Jordan Moreau, Variety, 2 Sep. 2025

Jacob Anderson tears into the undead flesh of the enemies who murdered his daughter, channeling his pain and fury into a series of increasingly gruesome vampiric assassinations. —Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 9 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for undead

• abed
• ahead
• beachhead
• bedspread
• bedstead
• behead
• blackhead
• blockhead
• bloodshed
• bowhead
• breastfed
• bridgehead