dead, defunct, deceased, departed, late mean devoid of life. dead applies literally to what is deprived of vital force but is used figuratively of anything that has lost any attribute (such as energy, activity, radiance) suggesting life.
a dead, listless performance defunct stresses cessation of active existence or operation.
a defunct television series deceased, departed, and late apply to persons who have died recently. deceased is the preferred term in legal use.
the estate of the deceaseddeparted is used usually as a euphemism.
our departed sister late is used especially with reference to a person in a specific relation or status.
the company's late president
Examples of departed in a Sentence
a few crumbling ruins are all that remain of that departed civilization
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'departed.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.