Street voices
Janna
·
United States
Just recorded
"deadass means, you know, like, seriously it can be used in the form of like a question or a statement both work an example can be bro, holy shit, i just completely failed the final deadass"
Hugues
·
United States
"Deadass, meaning serious or honest. Dude, I just won the freaking lottery. What? Are you being deadass right now? Hell yeah, I'm being deadass."
What it means
Deadass means you're being totally serious, no joking, no exaggeration. You drop it before a statement to swear it's true, or after to double down when someone doubts you. It also works as an intensifier, like deadass tired or deadass serious. It came up in NYC and AAVE, then hip-hop and the internet made it a go-to truth stamp. Say it and you're putting your name on it.
Usage examples
"Deadass, the bodega cat just chased a pigeon out the door, then sat back like he owned the whole block."
"Deadass, I queued for two hours in the rain for that one pastry, and I would honestly do it all over again tomorrow."
Where it comes from
Built from dead, as in absolutely, dead serious, dead certain, squeezed into one blunt word. New York and African American Vernacular English pushed it, and hip-hop stamped it as the line you say when you are putting your name on the truth.
Other ways to say it
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