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
In the series’ third season, Primal got gnarlier by bringing protagonist Spear (voiced by Aaron LaPlante) back from the dead but keeping the character unaware of his new zombie status.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 4 May 2026
McBride has been busy bringing Carol back to life in the latest season of the AMC series, this time filming across Spain, which offered a fresh backdrop for the long-running zombie franchise.
—Deirdre Durkan, PEOPLE, 4 May 2026
More broadly, this same chain of logic turns the Voting Rights Act into a zombie law, a perversion of its intended purpose that now mostly protects white Americans from any attempts to break their disproportionate control of voting machinery.
—Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 2 May 2026
To see some of the zombies walking around the base camp in hair and makeup and wardrobe was magical.
—Kia D. Goosby, Vanity Fair, 25 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for zombie
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Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 4 May 2026
McBride has been busy bringing Carol back to life in the latest season of the AMC series, this time filming across Spain, which offered a fresh backdrop for the long-running zombie franchise.
—Deirdre Durkan, PEOPLE, 4 May 2026
More broadly, this same chain of logic turns the Voting Rights Act into a zombie law, a perversion of its intended purpose that now mostly protects white Americans from any attempts to break their disproportionate control of voting machinery.
—Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 2 May 2026
To see some of the zombies walking around the base camp in hair and makeup and wardrobe was magical.
—Kia D. Goosby, Vanity Fair, 25 Apr. 2026
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 May. 2026.
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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