zombie

noun

zom·​bie ˈzäm-bē 

variants or less commonly zombi

1

a

: a will-less and speechless human (as in voodoo belief and in fictional stories) held to have died and been supernaturally reanimated

b

: the supernatural power that according to voodoo belief may enter into and reanimate a dead body

2

a

: a person held to resemble the so-called walking dead

especially : automaton

b

: a person markedly strange in appearance or behavior

3

: a mixed drink made of several kinds of rum, liqueur, and fruit juice

zombielike adjective

or zombie-like

ˈzäm-bē-ˌlīk 

… a morning rush of zombielike office workers, all starved for caffeine and clamoring for cappuccino.

—Bob Filipczak

zomboid

ˈzäm-ˌbȯid 

adjective

This is a poetry eerily populated with ghosts and mummies and zomboid creatures who go on living though dead from love.

—Patrick McGarth

Examples of zombie in a Sentence

If I don't go to bed early I'll be a zombie tomorrow.

His students usually sat there in the classroom like zombies.

Recent Examples on the Web

The Norwegian director balanced horror, humor and action with more panache in the films that put him on the map, Dead Snow and its sequel, which dumped Nazi zombies in mountain woodlands. —David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 10 Apr. 2026

Harry and Caroline had been like the final living humans among the zombies, boarding up the windows of their childless life, until one day Caroline had looked at her hideout companion and realized he was infected, too. —Literary Hub, 9 Apr. 2026

Seemingly half of the testers in the gondolas (Sephora-speak for brand shelving) at their Beverly Hills location looked like they had been ransacked by zombies. —Marisa Meltzer, Vanity Fair, 7 Apr. 2026

Ware, a young boy at an arts festival called the Rose Festival in Portland, Oregon, had just gotten his face painted like a zombie. —Hanna Wickes, Charlotte Observer, 4 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Louisiana Creole or Haitian Creole zonbi, of Bantu origin; akin to Kimbundu nzúmbe ghost

First Known Use

1928, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for zombie

• combi
• thrombi

Kids Definition

zombie

noun

zom·​bie

variants also zombi

ˈzäm-bē 

: a person who is believed to have died and been brought back to life without speech or free will

Etymology

Louisiana Creole or Haitian Creole zonbi, of Bantu origin