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
… a morning rush of zombielike office workers, all starved for caffeine and clamoring for cappuccino.
—
Bob Filipczak
Bob Filipczak
zomboid
adjective
This is a poetry eerily populated with ghosts and mummies and zomboid creatures who go on living though dead from love.
—Patrick McGarth
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
Not yet bested today, the most exquisite zombie movie ever created demanded to be seen by more audiences, and using late-night slots at drive-in theaters and rep cinemas as a cheap way to build out its reputation was brilliant.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 3 Oct. 2025
Let’s rank these jobs from most to least desirable for a prospective manager (zombie or otherwise).
—Levi Weaver, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
Furthermore, a zombie apocalypse wouldn’t even scratch the surface of weirdest things to happen in the fictional town of Riverdale.
—Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2025
Other dystopian genre films like The Omega Man, starring Charlton Heston, or World War Z, starring Brad Pitt, imagine the anarchy coming from a virus that breaks society and turns neighbors into literal zombies.
—Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 29 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for zombie
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Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 3 Oct. 2025
Let’s rank these jobs from most to least desirable for a prospective manager (zombie or otherwise).
—Levi Weaver, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
Furthermore, a zombie apocalypse wouldn’t even scratch the surface of weirdest things to happen in the fictional town of Riverdale.
—Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2025
Other dystopian genre films like The Omega Man, starring Charlton Heston, or World War Z, starring Brad Pitt, imagine the anarchy coming from a virus that breaks society and turns neighbors into literal zombies.
—Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 29 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for zombie
Cite this Entry
“Zombie.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zombie. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
zombie
noun
zom·bie
variants
also zombi
: 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
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