dead as a dodo
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Sense 1
Meaning · English
Undoubtedly and unquestionably dead.
Where it’s used:
Used
American English
Examples
The campaign was as dead as a dodo.
I wrote back, Paz said, I told him, Dada dead as dodo eat your hat.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org). Figurative class: Simile (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Sense 2
Meaning · English
Very much out of date.
Sources & notes
Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).
Common questions
What does “dead as a dodo” mean?
Undoubtedly and unquestionably dead.
Is “dead as a dodo” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.