Meanings
- derogatoryidiomaticnot comparableFinishing in last place in a competition or ranking, often by a considerable margin to the next to last place finisher or after an exceptionally poor showing or season.
That high-school football team only scored 18 points all year! No wonder they were dead last in the league.
1 more example
And compared with Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and 14 European countries, the United States ranks dead last, with the highest death rate for people under age 75 from conditions that could have been treated or prevented with timely medical care.
2008 October, Mark Jenkins, “Need surgery? Call a travel agent”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 8, →ISSN, page 152Synonyms: dead first
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveFinishing in last place in a competition or ranking, often by a considerable margin to the next to last place finisher or after an exceptionally poor showing or season.
Translations
Finnish vihonviimeinen
- vihonviimeinenfinishing last
Japanese どべ, ドベ
- どべfinishing last
- ドベfinishing last
Cite this entry
dead last. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dead%20last
“dead last.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dead%20last. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dead last,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dead%20last.
Source: dead last on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.