dead giveaway
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.54 in modern English
24
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A giveaway that is especially obvious, especially ruinous, or both, disclosing, usually unintentionally, a fact or an intention.
Example Sentences
- "That disguise is a dead giveaway! Choose something less obvious."
- ""Instead of slowing down his arm when he throws it — a dead giveaway to hitters — Igawa had better arm action, Eiland said""
- "Most torpedoes solved this problem by supplying the engine with compressed air, but this held a couple of problems, as regular air is only 21% oxygen, meaning that 79% of said compressed air is useless and will simply be vented as a hot gas, along with any combustion products from the burning of the fuel. This would then lead to a train of bubbles that were something of a dead giveaway of a torpedo's presence, and the limited amount of oxygen within the compressed air also limited the torpedo's range. More oxygen would mean fewer bubbles, as there was less exhaust gas; more burn time, as there was more oxygen to burn with the fuel; and a more complete and energetic combustion of the fuel, all of which would allow a torpedo that was equipped with an enriched-oxygen mix to travel further, faster, and stealthier."