Meanings
- uncountablecomputingInstructions that, when executed, have no effect on the running of the program.
Much dead code elimination is actually done on intermediate representations of your code, which may contain unnecessary intermediate calculations[…]
2006, William Von Hagen, The definitive guide to GCC - uncountablecomputingA portion of source code that will never be executed as part of the running program.
Many software projects contain much dead code in the form of deprecated functions.
1 more example
If the test data is exhaustive you can even locate dead code: program code that is never executed.
2003, Diomidis Spinellis, Code Reading: The Open Source Perspective, Addison-Wesley Professional, →ISBN, page 372Synonyms: unreachable code
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA portion of source code that will never be executed as part of the running program.
Translations
Finnish kuollut koodi
- kuollut koodiinstructions that have no effect on the running of the program
German toter Code, toter Kode
- toter Codeinstructions that have no effect on the running of the program
- toter Kodeinstructions that have no effect on the running of the program
Italian codice morto
- codice mortoinstructions that have no effect on the running of the program
Turkish ölü kod
- ölü kodinstructions that have no effect on the running of the program
Cite this entry
dead code. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dead%20code
“dead code.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dead%20code. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dead code,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dead%20code.
Source: dead code on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.