variants
or less commonly zombi
1
a
: a will-less and speechless human (as in voodoo belief and in fictional stories) held to have died and been supernaturally reanimated
b
: the supernatural power that according to voodoo belief may enter into and reanimate a dead body
2
a
: a person held to resemble the so-called walking dead
especially
: automaton
b
: a person markedly strange in appearance or behavior
3
: a mixed drink made of several kinds of rum, liqueur, and fruit juice
zombielike
adjective
or zombie-like
… a morning rush of zombielike office workers, all starved for caffeine and clamoring for cappuccino.
—
Bob Filipczak
Bob Filipczak
zomboid
adjective
This is a poetry eerily populated with ghosts and mummies and zomboid creatures who go on living though dead from love.
—Patrick McGarth
Patrick McGarth
Examples of zombie in a Sentence
If I don't go to bed early I'll be a zombie tomorrow.
His students usually sat there in the classroom like zombies.
Recent Examples on the Web
Danny Boyle is once again directing, after helming 2002’s 28 Days Later, which centered on a man (Cillian Murphy) who wakes up in the hospital to find the United Kingdom overtaken by a zombie plague.
—Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Apr. 2024
See the rankings 10 states least likely to survive a zombie apocalypse
These are the 10 best states to survive in a potential apocalypse and their scores out of 100, according to NoDepositDaily.com.
—Laura Daniella Sepulveda, The Arizona Republic, 23 Apr. 2024
Memorable dungeons to explore included Metro stations and Smithsonian museums, where players encounter zombies, mutants and giant insects.
—Alan Zilberman, Washington Post, 17 Apr. 2024
Some blockchain zombies seem to trade solely based on the popularity of their creators.
—Steven Ehrlich, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
But some of these insects won’t succeed in their goal of procreating — instead, they’ll be controlled like zombies into spreading a strange fungus that hijacks cicadas’ bodies and behavior.
—Kate Golembiewski, CNN, 15 Apr. 2024
Yes, 20 years since a motley group of Brits chose to ride out the zombie apocalypse at their local pub.
—Longreads, 12 Apr. 2024
Vallow Daybell referred to her two youngest kids as zombies, one friend testified during her trial.
—CBS News, 10 Apr. 2024
He is attached to work on a sequel trilogy to 28 Days Later, the 2002 zombie feature that launched his career, and also has a Peaky Blinders movie in the works to follow his long-running period gangster TV series.
—Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Mar. 2024
Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Apr. 2024
See the rankings 10 states least likely to survive a zombie apocalypse
These are the 10 best states to survive in a potential apocalypse and their scores out of 100, according to NoDepositDaily.com.
—Laura Daniella Sepulveda, The Arizona Republic, 23 Apr. 2024
Memorable dungeons to explore included Metro stations and Smithsonian museums, where players encounter zombies, mutants and giant insects.
—Alan Zilberman, Washington Post, 17 Apr. 2024
Some blockchain zombies seem to trade solely based on the popularity of their creators.
—Steven Ehrlich, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
But some of these insects won’t succeed in their goal of procreating — instead, they’ll be controlled like zombies into spreading a strange fungus that hijacks cicadas’ bodies and behavior.
—Kate Golembiewski, CNN, 15 Apr. 2024
Yes, 20 years since a motley group of Brits chose to ride out the zombie apocalypse at their local pub.
—Longreads, 12 Apr. 2024
Vallow Daybell referred to her two youngest kids as zombies, one friend testified during her trial.
—CBS News, 10 Apr. 2024
He is attached to work on a sequel trilogy to 28 Days Later, the 2002 zombie feature that launched his career, and also has a Peaky Blinders movie in the works to follow his long-running period gangster TV series.
—Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'zombie.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near zombie
Cite this Entry
“Zombie.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zombie. Accessed 2 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
zombie
noun
zom·bie
variants
also zombi
: a person who is believed to have died and been brought back to life without speech or free will
Etymology
Louisiana Creole or Haitian Creole zonbi, of Bantu origin
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share