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Deceased vs Deader - What's the difference?

deceased | deader |

As adjectives the difference between deceased and deader

is that deceased is no longer alive while deader is comparative of dead; or at least more evidently dead.

As nouns the difference between deceased and deader

is that deceased is a dead person while deader is one who is deceased, or will shortly become so.

deceased

English

Adjective

(-)
  • No longer alive
  • * That parrot is definitely deceased , and when I purchased it not ’alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein’ tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk. Monty Python
  • Belonging to the dead.
  • * The executor’s commission for winding up the deceased estate was 3.5%.
  • (legal): One who has died. In property law', the alternate term decedent is generally used. In ' criminal law , “the deceased” refers to the victim of a homicide.

    • Synonyms

    * (no longer alive) asleep, at peace, at rest, dead, departed, late, gone

    Usage notes

    * Not to be confused with diseased (affected with or suffering from disease)

    Noun

    (deceased)
  • A dead person
  • * The deceased was interred in his local churchyard.
  • (plural deceased ) dead people
  • * A memorial to the deceased of two World Wars.
  • (legal): One who has died. In property law', the alternate term decedent is generally used. In ' criminal law , “the deceased” refers to the victim of a homicide.

    • Synonyms

    * (dead person) dead person, dead soul, deceased person, decedent, departed, late * dead people, dead souls, deceased people, decedents, departed

    Usage notes

    Deceased'' is commonly used in legal and journalistic settings. ''Departed is most commonly used in religious settings.

    deader

    English

    Adjective

    (head)
  • (figuratively, humorous) (dead); or at least more evidently dead.
    • He was deader than a dead dog's bone buried down a blind alley off a dead-end street in a ghost town. Man, he was dead.
  • * 1920 , Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan the Untamed [http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=/texts/english/modeng/publicsearch/modengpub.o2w&act=surround&offset=131150698&tag=Burroughs,+Edgar+Rice,+1875-1950:+Tarzan+the+Untamed,+1920&query=deader&id=BurUnta]
    • Oldwick drew the pistol from his shirt. "If he has made up his mind to kill me," he thought. "I can't see that it will make any difference in the long run whether I infuriate him or not. The beggar can't kill me any deader in one mood than another."
  • * 1920 , Sinclair Lewis, Main Street [http://books.google.com/books?vid=0KTdN_6ZVqc1HOWGlanRBZU&id=66VaLHf1LY4C&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=deader&as_brr=1]
    • The days of pioneering, of lassies in sunbonnets, and bears killed with axes in piney clearings, are deader now than Camelot...

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (figurative or humorous, informal) One who is deceased, or will shortly become so.
    • I could tell he was a deader by the way his eyes were glazed over; there was no life left in those eyes.
  • * 1887 , Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet [http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=/texts/english/modeng/publicsearch/modengpub.o2w&act=text&offset=278572930&textreg=1&query=deader&id=DoyScar]
  • *:"No, nor drink. And Mr. Bender, he was the fust to go, and then Indian Pete, and then Mrs. McGregor, and then Johnny Hones, and then, dearie, your mother."
  • *:"Then mother's a deader too," cried the little girl, dropping her face in her pinafore and sobbing bitterly.
  • *:"Yes, they all went except you and me...