Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

dead man walking

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.66 in modern English

Syllables: dead- -man walk-ing
IPA

26

Scrabble Score

14

Letters

4

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A condemned prisoner walking to a death chamber or other place of execution.

noun

Someone who is soon to die.

noun

Someone who is about to face an unavoidable loss (though the person may not realize it yet).

noun

A multivortex tornado typically appearing in the form of a human figure walking.

Slang

Example Sentences

"It was Percy Wetmore who ushered Coffey onto the block, with the supposedly traditional cry of “Dead man walking! Dead man walking here!”"
""So, arrest me," Cummings said. "The fuck do I care? I'm a dead man walking.""
"Doctors and scientists considered him a dead man walking. Having calculated that the exposure level was actually hundreds of times the fatal threshold, doctors believed Bugorski would eventually experience total nervous system collapse."

Etymology

A phrase traditionally used in U.S. prisons to announce a condemned prisoner being walked to the place of execution. Its use has expanded as a euphemism for anyone facing an impending and unavoidable loss.

Usage

Slang

Inflected Forms

dead men walking (plural)

Phrases

dead person walking dead woman walking lame duck

Frequently Paired Words

lame duck

Questions

What does dead man walking mean?: A condemned prisoner walking to a death chamber or other place of execution.
Where does dead man walking come from?: A phrase traditionally used in U.S. prisons to announce a condemned prisoner being walked to the place of execution. Its use has expanded as a euphemism for anyone facing an impending and unavoidable loss.

How to pronounce dead man walking

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