Meaning & use
dead legged
Last updated
Meaning
adjectivenot comparableinformalBritish
Having legs that feel heavy, numb, or painful, usually after hard exercise or a long time standing.
Grammar: Used after a linking verb like be, feel, or get: My legs are dead legged.
Patterns
- be dead legged
- feel dead legged
- get dead legged
After running the marathon, I was completely dead legged and could hardly walk.
He played the whole match and felt dead legged for days afterward.
Standing for eight hours at the festival left me dead legged.
Common combinations
- completely dead legged
- By the end of the hike, we were completely dead legged.
- feel dead legged
- I feel dead legged after that long bike ride.
- dead legged from something
- She was dead legged from dancing all night.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stiff-legged
- Stiff-legged means your legs are hard to move, often because of injury or cold, not necessarily from exercise.
- heavy-legged
- Heavy-legged means your legs feel like they weigh a lot; it is less common and less informal than dead legged.
Word family
- dead leg noun
- A bruise or numb feeling in the leg, often from a knock; also a condition after exercise.
Commonly confused: dead legged or dead leg?
dead legged vs dead leg
A dead leg is a noun phrase for the injury or condition; dead legged is an adjective describing someone who has it.
Practice
After the long hike, my legs felt ___ and I needed to sit down.
Choose one answer.
The adjective 'dead legged' describes the feeling in your legs. 'Dead leg' is a noun, so it cannot follow 'felt' in this way.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “dead legged”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.