different between undread vs undead

English

Etymology

From un- +? dread.

Noun

undread (uncountable)

1. Lack or want of dread; dreadlessness.
   • 2012, Stephen Hunter, Soft Target:

     It was somehow the opposite of mass dread; it was mass undread.

Anagrams

• daunder, dead run, undared

English

Etymology

From Middle English undede, equivalent to un- +? dead. The first attestation is from around 1400. Usage as a noun is attested from the early 20th century onwards.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?d?d/
• Rhymes: -?d

Adjective

undead (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to a corpse, though having qualities of life.
2. (horror fiction) Being animate, though non-living.

Translations

Noun

the undead pl (plural only)

1. (horror fiction) Those creatures which are undead; that is, dead yet still animate.

   In the zombie movie, an army of the undead accosted some nubile skinny-dipping teenagers.

Translations

Noun

undead (plural undeads)

1. (horror fiction) A creature that is undead; that is, dead but still animate.
   • 1983, Tanith Lee, The Wars of Vis

     "You will do me a service," the undead said to him.

   • 1997, Carol Margaret Davison, Paul Simpson-Housley, Bram Stoker's Dracula: sucking through the century, 1897-1997

     Innocent VIII lent credibility to the actual existence of undeads, an action that perpetuated, and even stimulated, vampire hysteria.

See also

• Frankenstein's monster
• living dead
• mummy
• revenant
• vampire
• zombie