lifeless

English

Alternative forms

• liveless (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English lyfles, lifles, from Old English līflēas (“lifeless”), equivalent to life +‎ -less. Cognate with West Frisian libbensleas (“lifeless”), Dutch levenloos (“lifeless”), German leblos (“lifeless”), Danish livløs (“lifeless”), Swedish livlös (“lifeless”), Icelandic líflaus (“lifeless”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪfləs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: life‧less

Adjective

lifeless (comparative more lifeless, superlative most lifeless)

1. inanimate; having no life

   Synonyms: immobile, inert; see also Thesaurus:immobile, Thesaurus:stationary

2. dead; having lost life

   Synonyms: expired, perished; see also Thesaurus:dead

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:

     a farther paſſion feeds my thoughts,
     With ceaſeleſſe and diſconſolate conceits,
     Which dies my lookes so liueleſſe as they are,
     And might, if my extreames had ful euents,
     Make me the gaſtly counterfeit of death.

3. uninhabited, or incapable of supporting life

   Synonyms: deserted, peopleless; see also Thesaurus:uninhabited

4. dull or lacking vitality

   Synonyms: lackluster, soporific; see also Thesaurus:boring

   • 2018 December 1, Tom Rostance, “Southampton 2 - 2 Manchester United”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     In a largely lifeless second half their only shot on target was a tame overhead effort from Paul Pogba, and Mourinho's already stretched squad saw Luke Shaw and Lukaku limp off late on, while Ashley Young picked up a fifth booking of the season which rules him out of Wednesday's league game at home to Arsenal.

Derived terms

• lifelessly
• lifelessness

Translations

inanimate

• Afrikaans: leweloos
• Bulgarian: безжизнен (bg) (bezžiznen)
• Finnish: hengetön (fi)
• Greek: άβιος (el) (ávios)

  Ancient: ἄψυχος (ápsukhos)

• Latin: inanimus (la)
• Polish: martwy (pl)

dead

• Afrikaans: leweloos
• Bengali: নির্জীব (bn) (nirjib), জীবনহীন (jibnohin), মৃত (bn) (mrito)
• Bulgarian: мъртъв (bg) (mǎrtǎv)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無生命的 / 无生命的 (zh) (wú shēngmìng de)

• Danish: livløs
• Esperanto: senviva
• Faroese: lívleysur
• Finnish: hengetön (fi), kuollut (fi)
• French: sans vie (fr)
• Galician: sen vida
• German: leblos (de)
• Hungarian: élettelen (hu)
• Icelandic: líflaus
• Japanese: 生命のない (ja) (せいめいのない, senmei no nai)
• Marathi: निर्जीव (nirjīv), मृत (mŕt)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: livløs

  Nynorsk: livlaus

• Pashto: بې ځانه (ps) (be źâna), بې سا (ps) (be sâ)
• Plautdietsch: doot
• Polish: martwy (pl), nieżywy (pl)
• Russian: безжи́зненный (ru) (bezžíznennyj), бездыха́нный (ru) (bezdyxánnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: gun deò
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бе̏животан

  Roman: bȅživotan (sh)

• Spanish: exánime (es), sin vida, inánime
• Swedish: livlös (sv)
• Telugu: నిర్జీవము (te) (nirjīvamu)
• Turkish: cansız (tr)

uninhabited, or incapable of supporting life

• Finnish: kuollut (fi)
• Polish: jałowy (pl)

dull or lacking vitality

• Finnish: hengetön (fi)
• Polish: martwy (pl)

Anagrams

• fileless, self-lies