Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

dead wood

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: 4.64 in modern English

Syllables: dead- -wood
IPA

14

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

3

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Matters or things that have become unnecessary or otherwise useless; bloat, dead weight.

Uncountable

noun

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see dead, wood.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"Everybody knows that when you have a layoff, you use it as chance to get rid of the people you wanted to get rid of anyway, but couldn't document or hadn't bothered documenting as bad employees […]. If you don't have much dead wood, you hope they make you use a senioentrity list, because then you can say it's out of your control."

Usage

Uncountable

Phrases

put the dead wood on chainsaw consultant clean house

Frequently Paired Words

chainsaw consultant clean house deadwood

Questions

What does dead wood mean?: Matters or things that have become unnecessary or otherwise useless; bloat, dead weight.

How to pronounce dead wood

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “dead wood”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “dead wood”.
Repeat and practice — Say “dead wood” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.