lifeless

English

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/
Hyphenation: life‧less

Adjective

lifeless (comparative more lifeless, superlative most lifeless)

inanimate; having no life
dead; having lost life
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; 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.
uninhabited, or incapable of supporting life
dull or lacking vitality
- 2018 December 1, Tom Rostance, “Southampton 2 - 2 Manchester United”, in BBC Sport‎:
  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

Bulgarian: безжизнен (bg) (bezžiznen)
Finnish: hengetön (fi)
Greek:
Ancient: ἄψυχος (ápsukhos)
Latin: inanimus (la)

dead

Bengali: নির্জীব (bn) (nirjībô), জীবনহীন (jībônôhīn), মৃত (bn) (mŕt)
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)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: livløs
Nynorsk: livlaus
Pashto: بې ځانه‎ (ps) (be źâna), بې سا‎ (ps) (be sâ)
Plautdietsch: doot
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)

dull or lacking vitality

Finnish: hengetön (fi)

Anagrams

fileless, self-lies